£27m flats with rooftop garden take shape on site of 18th century furnace and former Yorkshire hotel

‘Founders Yard’ is set to feature a rooftop garden, basement car park and biomass heating and hot water system.

The site’s most recent use was Robert Neill & Co electrical wholesalers and the Queen’s Hotel, which closed in 1997.

But its most significant feature was a furnace constructed by Sheffield’s Corporation of Cutlers in 1759.

A heritage report states: “The furnace, the only commercial enterprise undertaken by the Cutlers, remained extant in 1784 but its site was occupied by terraced housing, a yard and an outdoor toilet block by 1853.

“The construction of the 19th century houses is likely to have impacted on any remains of the furnace, particularly if these properties possessed cellars.”

Scotland Street was laid out by 1736, it adds. Today it is changing from industrial to residential.