Sheffield City Council reveals plans for Events Central town center music venue with exhibition space UK News

The local authority has revealed details of a plan to repair, refurbish and re-clad a vacant five-storey building at 20-26 Fargate and turn it into Events Central which will be let to businesses and divided equally into commercial and community purposes.

It would include a new 200-person standing music room in the basement with other uses including an exhibition area, bookstore, juice bar, tourist information point as well as co-working spaces and makers at other levels.

The funding comes from the £15.8m awarded to Sheffield by the government’s Future High Streets Fund, following a bid backed by the University of Sheffield.

In a statement provided with the plans, HLM Architects, on behalf of the council, said: ‘Sheffield City Council wishes to develop an exciting community cultural center building which supports and also provides additional opportunities to use event space external.

“The intention is to provide a part-community, part-commercial offering that will serve as a model and catalyst for a further regeneration of Fargate.

“The proposals contained in this report are currently being developed with Sheffield City Council and ARUP with the aim of delivering high quality events, leisure and workspaces.”

The local authority said it could replace infrastructure that supports Fargate events such as the Christmas Market, as the daily cost is currently “exorbitant”.

It would be built with sustainability and the climate crisis in mind – proposals so far include being an electric-only building with solar panels on the roof – and the project is on track to receive excellent status according to BREEAM standards, said HLM Architects.

The council acquired the building, built in the late 1800s, in 2021 when it stood empty “along with many others” along Fargate following Covid-19 restrictions on businesses.

HLM Architects said the strategy is to refresh the building with minimal impact on the existing stone fabric and to retain much of the facade except for the ground and first floor levels which will be replaced with new ones. triple glazed windows.

He added: “The first informal conversations with the planning department took place on 04/10/21, where the project was praised for bringing back some of the grandeur lost to the facade. It was also noted at this meeting that the existing canopy does little to improve the street scene.

The town hall has several projects underway to bring the city center back to life.

This has already been granted planning approval and is expected to appear on the street in the coming weeks.

The University of Sheffield said these programs for Fargate are expected to attract 110,680 visitors each year, 50% of which are expected to be additional.

So far, there are no comments from members of the public on this latest planning application.