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City issues challenge to fork out for cutlery birthplace
Portland Works, Sheffield, the birthplace of stainless steel cutlery which is still home to a thriving community of craftspeople, artists and musicians. Pictures: Chris Lawton
IN MILLIONS of dining rooms and restaurants across the world every day, people pick up shiny knives and forks and never give a second thought to the man who invented the material which made them possible.
Sheffield is known globally as the home of cutlery but few people realise the city’s Portland Works, a rundown former metalworks, was where that illustrious reputation was first forged.
For many years the Grade II-listed building has suffered a lack of investment but it is still home to a thriving community of craftspeople, artists and musicians, who keep alive a 130-year tradition.
Some of the biggest names in Sheffield music have rehearsed in the works and neighbouring buildings, with bands like Def Leppard and Arctic Monkeys moving in at night after work finished for the day.
All that was set to be swept away virtually unnoticed after a planning application was submitted in 2009, which would have seen the building in Randall Street turned into flats and bedsits.
Initially, all concerned seemed resigned to their fate, seeing the works as another casualty of the modernisation which has seen Sheffield lose large parts of its industrial heritage in recent years.
But a campaign galvanised around the building’s history as the birthplace of stainless steel, and a group was formed with the aim of keeping the Portland Works open and restoring it to former glories.
In May this year, Sheffield Council’s planning committee was persuaded to throw out the flats plan – but now the group is faced with the task of raising the cash necessary to realise its vision.
Spokesman Keira Chapman said a share issue event would be held tonight to allow people to join a newly formed Industrial and Provident Society which aims to raise £450,000 to buy the works outright.
It will, according to the campaigners, be the first time any group in the city has tried to use community shares to save a piece of industrial heritage.
Miss Chapman added: “When we started a petition to save the works there was one comment that was made over and over again, and that was that Sheffield had already lost so much and we shouldn’t lose this.
“As a campaign group we started to look around for what we could do instead, what would be a more positive future for the building. We already have a wide range of tenants and wanted to build on that.
“There are still metalworkers, including Stuart Mitchell who makes amazing knives, a silver plater and other engineers, and then there are the musicians and artists who use space in the building.
“Essentially what we want to do is take the heritage of the stainless steel invention and all the people who have worked here and make it relevant to the 21st century and the current jobs market.
“We already have links with education providers and we want to see that become stronger and get the works plugged into apprenticeships and training. We see it as keeping the spirit of Sheffield alive.”
Around £100,000 has already been pledged, and Miss Chapman said some of those donations have come from senior executives in some of Sheffield’s major industrial firms.
She added: “It’s really about the saving the works and making sure it survives as what was designed to be, a workspace where people make things.
“On top of that, we want it to be a place where craftspeople and others share their skills and knowledge.
“The share issue event we are holding is designed to introduce new people to the works and the project to save it.”
Once the building has been purchased, rents from businesses will provide income for the project.
It is hoped that additional grants can be secured from funding bodies including the Architectural Heritage Fund and the Heritage Lottery Fund, both of which have expressed interest in helping restore the building’s crumbling facade.
The Portland Works society has placed a £100 lower limit on investment with a £20,000 upper limit, but members of the campaign said it would work on a one member one vote basis.
Donations of less than £100 are also welcome for those who just want to support the campaign’s cause to buy and preserve the building.
Campaign co-ordinator Derek Morton, said: “The aim is to repay all share capital. So when people buy a share, they are effectively making a long-term loan to the Portland Works campaign.
“It’s a really exciting and ethical way for people to invest their money in the local community.”
To invest in the project, or to find out more, e-mail info@portlandworks.co.uk.
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