Sheffield O2 Academy: Planning permission granted to replace 'crumbly concrete' roof

The venue on Arundel Gate has been shut since September 2023 when potentially unsafe ‘reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete’ (RAAC), commonly referred to as ‘crumbly concrete’, was found in the roof.

Scores of events and gigs have been rescheduled or moved to other venues since the discovery, with limited updates on the situation provided in that time.

Now, an application for planning permission to replace the roof and “allow the building to reopen swiftly and return a vital business back to the city centre" has been given the green light by Sheffield City Council.

The plan also forms part of a scheme to create STACK Sheffield, a huge new shipping container attraction between O2 Academy and Odeon Cinema.

The 1,600-capacity venue would be live music and other entertainment, a large screen and a range of street food vendors and bars.

STACK already runs shipping container attractions in Seaburn, Lincoln, Newcastle and Middlesbrough, with more planned at sites including Manchester, Leeds, Wigan and Durham.

Replacing the roof at the O2 would reportedly allow work on STACK to begin as well.

It comes after a previous shipping container attraction on Fargate was widely criticised. After suffering numerous setbacks and delayed openings, the containers closed and were dismantled after just three months, and by the end cost around £500,000 of taxpayer’s money, £200,000 more than was planned.