Anders Hanson

The developers of Sheffield’s New Retail Quarter, now renamed ‘Sevenstone‘, have unveiled their designs for the new shopping centre that will take in all of the land between Pinstone Street, Barker’s Pool, Division Street, Rockingham Street and Furnival Gate.   There is an exhibition that only lasts until Saturday (anyone would think they didn’t want people’s opinions) but there are also pictures on The Star’s website.

For what it’s worth I think most of the design is quite exciting and it is great if we can have a really impressive and architecturally daring shopping centre in the middle of the city.  Sevenstone (terrible name but I suppose we will have to live with it) will also hopefully be a great counterbalance to Meadowhall and will make sure that the city centre has a much better range of shops and attracts more of the national chains as well as local one-off stores.  This will mean that the city centre, that has improved immeasurably over the last few years, will be able to stand on its own two feet in competition with Meadowhall and other surrounding cities.

Although many people in Sheffield will disagree with the design, what it doesn’t seem to be is yet another bland and boring building like some of the recent developments in the middle of the city.  I don’t mind having unusual and controversial buildings because, although some won’t stand the test of time, we should in the long-run end up with an interesting and attractive cityscape.  Unfortunately what we seem to have had lately is some pretty cheap and nasty looking architecture that is also pretty bland.  The worst in my view is 1 St. Paul’s Place which is unattractive and bland and yet stands in a very high-profile location.

What worries me about Sevenstone is what we are losing in the process.  Although I won’t shed a tear when we lose buildings such as the current John Lewis, Kingdom nightclub and the Central Fire Station, it is appalling that we will lose buildings such as the old Bethel Sunday School on Cambridge Street and the pepper pot building on Pinstone Street.  Not only are they of architectural importance but they are also of historical significance too.  Sheffield is not renowned for its great architecture and a combination of bad planning decisions and the Second World War has reduced Sheffield’s collection of interesting older buildings down to a handful.  So I don’t want us to lose yet more.

I also don’t accept the argument that we have to be prepared to lose these buildings for the greater good.  I firmly believe that if you go to a reputable developer and say that they can do what they like but they have to protect certain buildings they will see it as a challenge and come back with something that not only retains the buildings but is perhaps even more interesting and exciting.