Looking to a brighter future - the new developments coming to Sheffield in 2021

And, after a short period during the first lockdown, builders returned and have carried on ever since.

Some projects have been delayed, some postponed. But with the prospect of brighter days ahead, these are the developments that should see action in the next 12 months.

Meadowhall’s extension plan is back on as part of a raft of ambitious measures to grow in a post-Covid environment.

British Land has submitted plans for a £150m Leisure Hall on part of the red and yellow car parks, with shops and a ’new, aspirational food and drink offer’. But the proposal is smaller than the £300m extension approved in 2018 and will not have a cinema.

It is one of a range of schemes including converting the M1 distribution site off Vulcan Road into a leisure park with activities in warehouses and an outdoor adventure area. The project also proposes new ‘big box’ shops selling outdoor equipment, sports and homeware near the Next Home store to the south of the centre off Sheffield Road. And the existing Vue cinema will be expanded and modernised.

Plans to build a 39-storey skyscraper on the former Primark site in Sheffield city centre have been given the go-ahead.

The former Primark, in High Street, in the Castlegate area, will be demolished to make way for the 206-apartment block named Kings Tower.

Nearby, construction has started on a £20m student block in Sheffield after months of delays due to the pandemic.

Builders have broken ground on the Vista project on a narrow plot sandwiched between Pond Street and Flat Street, near the bus station in the city centre.

Construction was supposed to start at the beginning of 2020. Now, Mount Property Group say it will be ready for the year after. The flats have just been launched for sale to investors.

Construction of a £65m Sheffield University building which had to be torn down due to dodgy foundations is set to re-start this month.

BAM said ‘deconstruction’ and re-piling of the social sciences building, on a former reservoir between Northumberland Road and Whitham Road, were finished - subject to checks - and work would commence ‘shortly’.

A large concrete frame had been built before movement was detected last summer.

Sheffied Council’s Heart of the City 2 project continues to make progress on several fronts.

Construction continues on Block ‘B’ Burgess House and Athol House and Block ‘C’ Isaacs House on Pinstone Street.

Palatine Chambers, also on Pinstone Street, is set to be converted into a Radisson Blu Hotel.

Round the corner, the striking red frame of the former Embrace nightclub in Sheffield will be replaced by a ‘playful reinterpretation’ of its former incarnation, the Regent Theatre.

The building on Barker’s Pool would also have a double height entrance creating a ‘generous public entrance’.

A new use for the building has yet to be confirmed although shops are expected on the ground floor.

A trio of social enterprises submitted a £350,000 bid to revamp a historic Leah’s Yard, a little mester’s workshop within the £480m Heart of the City II scheme.

The council says it wants to maintain the site’s ‘unique Sheffield character’ and provide a new ‘maker’ space. It is working to preserve the building.

The proposal includes a shop for local makers, artists’ studios, a café-bar and home for pop-up street food traders, an event and conference venue, co-working space and a new public square.

The new owner of Sheffield’s Old Town Hall has insisted he is not daunted by the scale of the restoration project.

Developer Efe Omu is working on his biggest and most high profile job - the 212-year-old listed building on Waingate.

He has permission to convert it into apartments, a hotel and a market.

Built in 1808, it has had five extensions and was also used as a court for years, before closing in 1996.

Over the road, Mr Omu is also converting a former rough pub into upscale apartments.

He is revamping the former Cannon Pub on Castle Street, creating three large apartments, with two shop units on the ground floor.

Meanwhile, hopes are high that 2021 will finally see progress in the £100m Attercliffe Waterside housing project.

The plan for 700 homes has been knocking around for 10 years.

Leeds developer Citu was announced as the preferred bidder last year.

A huge former banking complex is being converted into new offices. The former HSBC site on Tenter Street, comprising five big buildings, is now called Pennine Five.

RBH snapped it up for £18m and announced £30m plans to turn it into a new ‘commercial campus’. It is working on Block Three.

Last summer, a developer announced plans for a block of flats near Sheffield station - kickstarting the city’s biggest ever regeneration project.

Godwin Developments bought an empty site at the junction of Farm Road and Queens Road, adjacent to Grosvenor Casino. It is the first piece in a hugely ambitious £1.5bn project to redevelop the Sheaf Valley area.

Announced by Sheffield Council in March, it would see the closure of Park Square roundabout. Sheaf Street – the dual carriageway that runs in front of the station – would swap places with the tram route that runs behind. A huge pedestrian bridge would link Park Hill with Howard Street and the multi-storey car park on Turner Street would be demolished and moved further away. Up to 12 office blocks are planned, employing up to 3,000 people.

And up to 1,000 flats and houses could be built, with the area around Queens Road designated a new residential centre called ‘Sheaf Gardens’.

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