Good news at long last! Sheffield City Council has taken action against the owners of Grade II listed Cornish Works on Cornish Street at Kelham Island, as reported recently in the Star (25th September – our image is from that article) and Telegraph (2nd October). The Council’s move to step in and make the buildings wind and weatherproof is to be welcomed and hopefully this legal action will be progressed to further stages as to the fate of this very important range of historic industrial buildings.
They have survived for nigh on 200 years and sadly most of the deterioration has happened over the last 20 years thanks to thieves, vandals and pigeons. Many important internal features have already been lost due to this disgraceful neglect and the owners should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. The site is crying out to be developed in the same way as its sister building Cornish Place. This was the catalyst which started the fabulous renewal of Kelham Island and its condition was even worse than Cornish Works. However Gleesons Builders did what seemed to be an impossible task at that time by completing a residential conversion in just 18 months and it became the Jewel in the Crown. Let’s see history repeating itself in this atmospheric corner of Kelham and bring this magnificent building back to its former glory.
It would also counterbalance the massive new build which is taking place in this Conservation Area and starting to spoil the industrial feel which is why many people choose to live there. This is a genuine concern which the Council must keep an eye on as it would be so easy to destroy the ambience of this very successful Quarter. So please don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Hallamshire Historic Buildings are very pleased that Council policy appears to be finally changing after the Market Tavern debacle and their tough stance and consequent purchase of the Salvation Army Citadel on the corner of Pinstone Street is the start of a much more sympathetic approach to our heritage.
Is it the legal approach at Cornish Works and the Citadel that has prompted the present owner of the Grade II listed Old Town Hall on Waingate to sell? Whoever it ends up with, it is a blight on our city’s image and should never have been allowed to get into its present state. Let’s complete the hat-trick and get the legal eagles on the case.
Now that the Council has finally got the ball rolling, please keep it rolling.
This is good news but not sure about the congratulatory tone towards the council from HHBS for basically doing what they should have done long, long, long ago and without the adverse press from the Market Tavern debacle. As and when the council actually start a meaningful project to refurbish the central library to expand it’s free at the point of use service for the public to access arts and literature – reinstating late opening on Mondays, opening up the Carpenter room and Local Studies 6 days a week as public study space, opening Graves Gallery all the hours the library is open, reinstating a staff desk in the music library, creating an art library on the second floor, installing some proper disabled access, decent Wi-Fi, charging points, silent study, putting the young adults library next to the music library where the IT suite is now (and ensuring adults only enter this when invited to do so by a child or young adult) and reinstating a proper reference library – will we then be able to say they are taking the heritage of the city seriously and acting in the interests of Sheffield residents.
Thank you for your comment, and we take your point that there is still much to do and decades of neglect to overcome. The congratulations are for the changing culture, and it seems right to be positive about that. A few years ago the idea that the Council might intervene at all would have seemed pretty far-fetched. As for the Central Library, the fantasy Chinese deal was the best they could offer. Now there is a commitment to the building – previously lacking – and projects to secure and resurvey the building exterior while preparing to consult on what library services the public want to see. Watch this space.