Sheffield's £470m Heart of the City scheme 'can change perceptions and help hit housing targets'

The success of Sheffield’s £470m Heart of the City regeneration programme should not just be judged in financial terms, the city council’s director of development has said.
By Chris Burn

Head of Business and Features

Published 4th Jul 2024, 05:45 BST

Sheffield Council has funded the near-complete Heart of the City scheme, which has been gradually transforming the town centre with new office space, homes, restaurants, shops, Europe's largest purpose-built food hall and a public park. It followed a previous proposal called Sevenstone involving developer Hammerson being cancelled in 2013 after years of delays following the global financial crisis.

Speaking to The Yorkshire Post at the opening of a new Radisson hotel which is part of the city centre transformation, director of regeneration and development Sean McClean said there will be different factors to consider in future in assessing whether Heart of the City has succeeded.

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“Ultimately it is about bringing people into the city centre. Yes we need the revenue to cover the cost of the running but it is not purely about the finances,” he said.

The Cambridge Street Collective food hall is among the new additions to Sheffield city centreThe Cambridge Street Collective food hall is among the new additions to Sheffield city centre
The Cambridge Street Collective food hall is among the new additions to Sheffield city centre

"The reason the council stepped in is because of market failure and if the council hadn’t stepped in, then we may still have been where we were 10 years ago.

"Yes there’s getting the units let, getting the income in but it is about generating the footfall and generating other developments that follow on.

"The council wants to see 36,000 new homes, 20,000 of which we see being in the central core area. Critical to that is having things like parks, high-quality facilities and places where people can work, stay and play in the city centre. It is about changing the perception of the city centre.”

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While the final building in the Heart of the City scheme – Leah’s Yard – is due to be finished this month and open in August, other schemes in the city centre are still under way.

Work is continuing on a parallel £30m scheme to improve the rundown Fargate shopping street that Mr McClean said will be “substantially complete” by Christmas.

Related topics:SheffieldSheffield CouncilEuropeWork

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