3.2 Urban Form and City Skyline

Sheffield’s Architecture

The street patterns and building forms of Sheffield show the city’s history and evolution: the winding, intricate medieval street pattern at the core; the Georgian terraces; the Victorian industrial streets and warehouses; the riverside mills. Fortunately there are many surviving examples of Sheffield’s architectural history spread throughout the city centre.

The value of these buildings as vital components of the city’s image and identity has been recognised. Many have benefited from restoration or ongoing maintenance programs. Other significant heritage buildings, such as the factories and warehouses of the Riverside Quarter or Victoria Quays, have been ingeniously brought back to life through adaptive re-use schemes.

However, the architecture that has the greatest visual presence in the city today is the result of twentieth century slum clearance and postwar rebuilding. Many of these schemes have left a legacy of uninspiring buildings that do not respond to their historical or natural context and offer no design innovation.

Throughout the city centre there are many buildings which are purely utilitarian in their design, meaning that they:

• are block like in plan, form and profile;
  
• do not respond to the streetscape context in terms of scale, form, height or detailed design;
  
• do not respond to the street pattern of their locale;
  
• employ large expanses of grid fenestration and materials of bland colour and texture;
  
• show an unsympathetic response to the city’s heritage, such as the modern buildings along the Tenter Street periphery of the Cathedral Quarter;
  
  
• do not make a visual connection with the street or engage with its activity, and do not allow pedestrian permeability;
  
• are not located or designed to express the city’s hills, valleys or watercourses.

Even recent projects could do more to make a positive contribution to the city. Many have not maximised opportunities to connect with their environment – be it the street, the riverside frontage or the activity of adjoining precincts. There are unfortunate examples of new developments that present blank facades to the street, are out of scale with their context, block important viewlines or are bland in their detail.

However, Sheffield has also produced some exemplary new architecture that shows the revitalised city spirit. This is seen in the Millennium Galleries, the Winter Garden (which were opened to widespread acclaim in December 2002), the former Museum of Popular Music (an innovative and endearingly quirky building) and the very stylish Persistence Works gallery in the CIQ.

These are the world class buildings that symbolise the vision of Sheffield’s regeneration, although by their very scale and nature they will remain isolated examples.

Whilst these buildings show a new architectural awareness which is emerging in Sheffield, there is still an overall impression of poor building design which creates a negative image for the city.

The true and more profound symbol of the city’s success and commitment to regeneration will be in an overall improved standard of architectural design throughout. For every development site in the city, whether it be new build or refurbishment, fundamental design standards need to be adopted and applied consistently and rigorously.

As a defining feature of the city, quality in design of the urban environment will assist in making Sheffield a vibrant, interesting and memorable place. The success of recent projects such as the Winter Gardens and Millennium Galleries has shown that Sheffield can build a new image as a centre for design, creativity and culture on the quality of its buildings and spaces.

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