Sheffield City Centre - The Future

[AndrewC]

14 hours ago, hackey lad said:

I never said empty 

👇 You kinda did

20 hours ago, hackey lad said:

There’s loads of office space still standing empty 

 

 

18 hours ago, hackey lad said:

That’s what I meant. Why give permission to build these office blocks that aren’t up to spec ?

Well, even the new-build offices are subject to being judged on a number of factors like the ones I mentioned, not least location. If you think about The Square, the offices down by Park Square at the bottom of Dixon Lane, they were built to a decent grade, decent access but not exactly near any other offices, retail, services etc., so they have struggled (but they have had tenants). Potentially the cost of the office space puts people off too if it's pitched too high.

 

Ultimately though, it rarely hurts for a new development to provide space that offers a different combination of those factors, even if similar - but ultimately different - space is still available elsewhere.

 

Why allow it to happen if the council know there is an 'oversupply' of something? Well, as Planner1 says, there is not as much control over that as you'd think there might be, if a developer really wants to push ahead with something that is otherwise acceptable in all other aspects.

[Bargepole23]

6 hours ago, Anna B said:

"Build it, and they will come..."

 

    Except not in Sheffield...

 

Any evidence of occupancy rates, demand levels to provide?

 

What about those asbestos removal costs, any update on that?

[Jeffrey Shaw]

5 hours ago, Planner1 said:

Who do you think could control that? The council and government can’t.

 

The council has planning powers that relate to the type, size and quality of a development, but if a speculative investor wants to build something that complies with the planning requirements, so they can sell it for a profit later, there’s nothing the council can do about that.

True. Planning legislation is statutory, of course, and Local Planning Authorities are quote constrained.

For instance, they cannot refuse planning permission on grounds of a new building being unlikely to sell.

However, I can't see why a speculative developer would splurge a large amount of £££ on a new but unsaleable building.

[Victor Meldrew]

Planning?  How anyone in that official capacity could ever have given the green light to this unholy juxtaposition is beyond me 😬

 

 

[hackey lad]

16 minutes ago, Victor Meldrew said:

Planning?  How anyone in that official capacity could ever have given the green light to this unholy juxtaposition is beyond me 😬

 

 

Classy  😂

[Bilge]

I don't see a problem with the buildings in that picture.

 

The church has been retained despite there being little demand for churches these days (I think this one is still functioning, but with the Art House as a kind of add-on annexe thing). Other buildings have grown up around it. What's the problem? The city centre is full of such juxtapositions. That's one of the reasons it's interesting.

[Guest]

14 hours ago, Bilge said:

I don't see a problem with the buildings in that picture.

 

The church has been retained despite there being little demand for churches these days (I think this one is still functioning, but with the Art House as a kind of add-on annexe thing). Other buildings have grown up around it. What's the problem? The city centre is full of such juxtapositions. That's one of the reasons it's interesting.

A trip to specsavers (or Barnard Castle) would show that it has been built out of modern red brick to the usual cardboard box design.

A nicer material and shape, suggesting age would not have stood out like a sore thumb.

I don't know why anyone even mentions planning in this country when all modern building are more akin to Lego designs than those which were built when this country had some class and common sense. 

[ECCOnoob]

1 hour ago, Organgrinder said:

A trip to specsavers (or Barnard Castle) would show that it has been built out of modern red brick to the usual cardboard box design.

A nicer material and shape, suggesting age would not have stood out like a sore thumb.

I don't know why anyone even mentions planning in this country when all modern building are more akin to Lego designs than those which were built when this country had some class and common sense.

That's just your personal taste. I personally don't want a modern building to 'suggest age'.  I want it to look like a modern building. 

 

Renovations or conversions to existing structures are different, something like what's happening on Pinstone Street makes sense -  retaining of the Georgian facade will fit in with the new hotel.

 

However, when there is empty land surrounding some old building we cannot just sit there continually emulating the past just because people don't like change.

 

The building shown in the picture fits perfectly well as expected in any continually evolving City. It's hardly like it's gaudy bright pink or surrounded by neon lights.  Nor is it some site of prominent historical important must be fully preserved at all times. 

[Guest]

29 minutes ago, ECCOnoob said:

That's just your personal taste. I personally don't want a modern building to 'suggest age'.  I want it to look like a modern building. 

 

Renovations or conversions to existing structures are different, something like what's happening on Pinstone Street makes sense -  retaining of the Georgian facade will fit in with the new hotel.

 

However, when there is empty land surrounding some old building we cannot just sit there continually emulating the past just because people don't like change.

 

The building shown in the picture fits perfectly well as expected in any continually evolving City. It's hardly like it's gaudy bright pink or surrounded by neon lights.  Nor is it some site of prominent historical important must be fully preserved at all times. 

And that is simply your personal taste too.

A Legoland city centre may suit you fine but many others are more discerning.

The old building, by the way, is the Catholic Cathedral of Sheffield and there must be many who would be offended by your casual dismissal of it.

[HeHasRisen]

Its a good job the Church are  fast becoming an irrelevance in the modern world.