Next Steps Moving Forward For Old John Lewis Site

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Baron99 said:

Basically you can't turn what is a retail unit into a hospital.  Hospitals are purposely built to specific architect designs.  You could knock it down & start again but I don't think the building footprint would be big enough, even for a small hospital? 

Never heard such rubbish in my life. You can turn ANY building into a hospital as long as it has the space to accomodate it's intended usage in the same way as the Nightingale Hospitals were transformed. 

Both John Lewis & Debenhams could be used in this way.

The architect designed and purpose built hospitals we have already have  their shortcomings and we do need more.

That doesn't mean that you must cover every aspect of health in one of those buildings, which a full scale hospital would be expected to provide. 

[Baron99]

45 minutes ago, Organgrinder said:

Never heard such rubbish in my life. You can turn ANY building into a hospital as long as it has the space to accomodate it's intended usage in the same way as the Nightingale Hospitals were transformed. 

Both John Lewis & Debenhams could be used in this way.

The architect designed and purpose built hospitals we have already have  their shortcomings and we do need more.

That doesn't mean that you must cover every aspect of health in one of those buildings, which a full scale hospital would be expected to provide. 

Well if you've never heard of such rubbish, clearly you can provide an example of some where in the UK where a retail unit has been turned into a hospital?  

 

Go on, let's see an example? 

 

The JL building will be torn down & something more commercially viable will be built.  This is a prime commercial / high-end accommodation site. 

Edited December 9, 2021 by Baron99

[The Joker]

1 hour ago, Organgrinder said:

Never heard such rubbish in my life. You can turn ANY building into a hospital as long as it has the space to accomodate it's intended usage in the same way as the Nightingale Hospitals were transformed. 

Both John Lewis & Debenhams could be used in this way.

Yeah, but ambulance access to the JL site won't be easy

11 hours ago, geared said:

SCC are up about £1.5m on this deal, so you hope they don't screw this one up.

^^^^^^^^^^

This.

 

Unfortunately, SCC have a track record of commercial failures including selling off the former airport for £1 and the £millions lost on the broadband scheme . . .

[St Petre]

7 hours ago, Baron99 said:

Basically you can't turn what is a retail unit into a hospital.  Hospitals are purposely built to specific architect designs.  You could knock it down & start again but I don't think the building footprint would be big enough, even for a small hospital? 

 

Anyway, there's a new, Radisson Hotel going up just round the corner so there's no chance of such a development.   The site will more likely end up as a new build, being a mixture of residential & retail like most in the city.  A refurb would probably cost too much given the building has an asbestos issue to deal with. 

Yes, as the constuction of the Cole Bros. building started in mid 1962, then there has to be a lot of asbestos related materials within there.

[Longcol]

7 hours ago, bassett one said:

why not turn it into a hospital,instead of everyone having to go miles if ill from the south of the city,there used to be a town hospital

The Hallamshire isn't exactly far from town. 

[northernboy]

I’m fairly sure it will end up getting demolished, given the projected cost of refurbishment. https://www.thestar.co.uk/business/john-lewis-sheffield-staggering-ps70m-cost-of-repairing-building-revealed-as-experts-recommend-demolition-3489166
 

what the space will be used for is only limited by imagination

[Cyclecar]

I didn't realsie that it was as old as 1962. As we have come to learn, concrete 'block' structures of that era have not fared well. The Tinsley viaduct saga is an example, albeit not configured like John Lewis. Two issue that have been identified are the asbestos, which was quite a normal building material then, and the weakening car park which has loading issues and needs reinforcement. One reason JL gave up on the building is its relatively low ceiling height, which precludes retro-fitting air conditioning - so much easier to incorporate if starting from scratch.

 

So, after just 60 years it looks like it's going to be dropped. It's ironic that Sheffield has many fine and useful buildings built some 200 years ago, using local stone and traditional methods. 

 

Yes, it could be reconfigured as a small hospital - but at what cost - £40/60million? And the traffic issues would be horrendous.  Car parking at the RHH and NGH sites is chaotic for staff and visitors, it would be many times worse in the city centre.  Please don't post that everyone should come in on the bus........

 

It begs a separate thread - does Sheffield need another hospital, if so where should it be sited? There's not a lot of 'free' land within the city limits to build something like Calow with its wide open spaces.

[Bilge]

Demolish and build something for a variety of uses like the example in Norwich maybe:

https://www.skyscrapercity.com/threads/heart-of-the-city-ii-proposed-phases.2134370/page-49

 

[saywhatnow]

I personally think bringing the building down would help bring all the recent and ongoing redevelopment together

[Bilge]

It only looks like a reasonable building on the front facing the City Hall. The other 3 sides don't offer anything. Overall I think we need to get rid and build something exciting for the city which complements the surrounding streets. Personally JL was mostly a waste of space for me. It was no use at all to anyone at night when it was shut, and now it's permanently shut.

 

Many years after the 7-Stone weakling nonsense and all that embarrassing kowtowing to John Lewis, we now find ourselves in a great position to provide something fabulous on a big key site in the city.

 

A big indoor event space complemented by smaller units offering art/heritage/culture/retail/food etc. I'd personally love to see it also capable of hosting standing-only concerts that are bigger than the Leadmill capacity but smaller than the City Hall (say 1500+). 

 

We can take inspiration from other places such as Norwich:

https://theforumnorwich.co.uk/about-us

 

But it could also be a taller building that offers much more than that and helps pay for the community stuff. 

Edited December 11, 2021 by Bilge