Cannon Brewery, Sheffield: Developers ask for more than £11m of taxpayer money to build 550 homes in Yorkshire

Capital & Centric wants to construct the apartments and create around 40,000 sq ft of space, which can be filled with shops, offices and restaurants, on the old Cannon Brewery site.

The developer has asked South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) to invest, claiming it needs £11.67m to make sure the major redevelopment project is viable.

The publicly funded SYMCA, run by South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard, is due to sign off on the investment next week, claiming “the overall justification for public support is clear”.

According to a new report, the money will help “de-risk” the scheme, as it will be used to cover the “extensive demolition and remediation of the site”.

SYMCA also said the £143m development will regenerate a site near Sheffield city centre which “has had limited economic use” since the brewery closed in 1999. It is currently used to store machinery.

The developer, which has outline planning permission for the project, is currently planning to deliver the redevelopment in two phases.

The SYMCA report stated: “The first phase will deliver circa 300 high quality homes by re-purposing as much of the original brewery site as possible.”

It added: “The existing brewery building to the corner of Boyland Street and Bardwell Road will become 8,000 sq ft of new co-working facilities for new businesses acting as an incubator scheme for entrepreneurs through the provision of quality housing, modern workspaces and a range of amenity for its residents.

“The space will be available to the general public, bringing new people to the area, raising its profile and creating further value in the surrounding area.

“There will also be a further 25,000 sqft of commercial and amenity spaces to the ground floor, providing a much-needed social destination to the area, to cater for the new population that will grow from the wider regeneration."