Scaffolding goes up to repair university's new £21m building

Scaffolding has gone up around the iconic multi-coloured Jessop West building, on the busy Brook Hill roundabout, because two coloured panels and three glass ones are damaged and need to be replaced.

A spokesman for the university said: “The university is currently inspecting the damage to one of these panels to determine whether this is a result of the installation process or as a result of vandal damage.

“Once the damage has been analysed, we will then decide what action should be taken.”

The Jessop West building opened in January 2008, on the west corner of the former Jessop Hospital for Women site, to house Sheffield University’s arts and humanities departments.

Designed by Berlin architects Sauerbruch Hutton and completed in collaboration with associate architects RMJM and consulting engineers Arup, the building is based around a central atrium with three different wings, one for each university department. It also has a cafe on the ground floor, which is open to the public, and many environmentally-friendly features including a living roof.

The Jessop West building is part of a 33m development by the university in the Portobello area of the city, which also includes the rubber-box Soundhouse and the renovated Victorian Wing of the old Jessop Hospital for Women, known as the Jessop Building. Both of these buildings house the university’s music department.

Jessop West was the first “substantial” building completed by Sauerbruch Hutton in the UK, after 20 years of practice across Europe.