Park Hill Sheffield: Stiff competition for next phase of flats expected as popularity comes 'full circle' - Ad feature

Urban Splash and Places for People are redeveloping the listed structure and regeneration director for Urban Splash, Mark Latham is urging people to put their names down now if they want to be in with a shout, as the site’s popularity soars.

What are the latest plans?

Phase 4 will see the £26.5m revamp of a dilapidated block facing Duke Street, set to include 106 homes and 29,000sqft of studios, workspace and community facilities for S1 Artspace, opening in 2025.

Mark says the new project is facing tough times due to the nation’s economic problems. But they have come through them before. And everyone who said ‘it will never work’ since they took over in 2004 has been proved wrong.

All apartments in the most recent job - Phase 2 - were sold ahead of them being finished earlier this year. And when Phase 4 is complete, 90 per cent of the enormous 995-apartment complex will be back in use.

Mark said: “It's been a long journey from when it was totally derelict and a no-go zone. We've faced hugely challenging times and we're facing another now, just as we’re about to go out to tender on Phase 4.

“But we have always proved the doubters wrong and will continue to do so with determination and optimism.

“Based on the success of Phase 2, there will be stiff competition for properties. People can register their interest now.”

What's at Park Hill these days?

Today, as well as flats, a vibrant community is emerging, with a nursery, art space, cafes and shops. Some 70 per cent of the new commercial space in Phase 2 is already let and a residents’ garden is complete, Mark says.

Designed by Sheffield City Council architects, Ivor Smith and Jack Lynn, Park Hill opened to great acclaim in the early 1960s.

But by the 1980s it was famously reviled due, Mark believes, to high unemployment, lack of maintenance due to a lack of funds and the declining reputation of social housing.

Its surprise Grade II listing in 1998 was met with shock and dismay in the city, which was used to seeing concrete complexes come crashing down.

What was Richard Caborn's involvement?

Urban Splash came on the scene after bosses were ‘badgered and badgered’ to visit by local MP at the time, Richard Caborn.

Mark said they could immediately see its quality. But so had others - there was competition to become the preferred developer. And although they were successful, taking possession for just £1 in 2006, it came with £40m of ‘negative value’, a yard-high book of terms and conditions and a decades-long commitment.

In 2013, Places for People joined Urban Splash as joint venture partner and the development continued.

Mark added: “The first time our founder Tom Bloxham came he wasn't sure. He could see the qualities and position next to the city centre. But he felt perceptions needed changing. A lot of people had completely fallen out of love with it.

“When we started to talk to residents it was different. One said, ‘people think it is a slum but actually I've got one of the best penthouses in Sheffield’.

“It’s better designed than Kelvin and Hyde Park, which were demolished. But it's hard to see if you have never visited. It just looks like a huge fortress on the hill.”

All the flats have windows on both sides, generous balconies and living areas which face south or west for best light, while bedrooms face north or east, Mark says.

The famous ‘streets in the sky’ - super-wide walkways - not only allowed access by milk floats but encouraged community. You have to walk past the neighbours, unlike in tower blocks arranged around a lift. And while some of it has amazing views over the busy city centre, it is quiet to the rear.

Urban Splash and Places for People used brightly coloured external panels in Phase 1 to give it a new image, Mark says. They also made some windows bigger, added lobbies and installed sound proofing - the ‘streets' in particular run over bedrooms below.

How original architect Ivor Smith became involved again

In the early days they consulted extensively with architect Ivor Smith and grew to greatly admire the intelligence of its design.

Mark said: “We spoke to him a lot. He talked about the original vision of creating a place where people could live ‘happy lives’ and he sensed the same passionate commitment in us.

“He acknowledged that at one point it had failed in its mission, but he also loved seeing it come back to life.”

Park Hill was shortlisted for the 2013 RIBA Stirling Prize, the nation’s top architectural award. Mr Smith was at the ceremony and was thrilled to see his defining project come full circle among his peers, Mark said.

He added: “He was happy and fulfilled. It's easy to forget how different it is - it all looks inevitable, the residents, the children, the cars. But when we first came here it was empty and scary and had metal on all the windows.”

The complex has won him over too, it’s in his ‘top two’ projects among up to 70 by Urban Splash, he adds.

Today, £100m has been spent and Mark is full of praise for investment partners Places for People, alongside Sheffield City Council, Great Places, Homes England and Historic England, all of whom have played crucial roles in helping the project to weather the financial crash of 2008 and other crises along the way.

What is Places for People saying?

Places for People’s managing director for placemaking and regeneration Sammie Steele, commented: “We are proud of our role in the Park Hill story so far, collaborating with world-class design partners to sensitively restore this incredible building.

“Our work to date has seen the creation of hundreds of homes of mixed tenure, as well as workspaces and outside spaces – all of which have helped us establish a new creative quarter for Sheffield.

“Now we look forward to the future, building on the work already completed to ensure that more people can live, work and play here.”

Mark added: “This broad partnership of private and public organisations has sustained this project. No question it has been a huge joint effort. We set out with a shared vision for a sustainable mixed-use community. Now it’s becoming reality just as we all dreamt.”

To register an interest in Phase 4 contact the sales team on: 0114 3030375 // [email protected]