Sheffield Hallam University: Retirement village, hospital and conference centre suggested for historic campus
Suggestions for a historic Sheffield university campus set to fall empty have been pouring in - including turning it into a retirement village, conference centre or convalescent hospital.
Sheffield Hallam University plans to “move away” from Collegiate Campus after new £140m buildings on Howard Street open this year, although no timescales have been given.
It also says it is investing in the College of Health, Wellbeing and Lifesciences on Collegiate Crescent.
But readers have their own ideas about what the site should be. Collegiate Campus has seven listed buildings and new buildings between Broomgrove Road and Collegiate Crescent and three buildings on Broomhall Road.
Business owner Ian Proctor said: “I always thought it would make a great retirement village.”
Attercliffe property business owner David Slater said: “Sheffield needs some unaffordable housing. Sheffield’s west side should be on a par with the best bits of Cheshire. Students should all be in the city centre and east end to fire up regeneration.
“The west side will become a sought-after area for families. It’s a win for all concerned, except maybe some politicians!”
On The Star’s Facebook page, Lynda Whiteley said it would make an ideal convalescent home so patients in hospital weren't bed blocking.
She added: “We had a few of them back in the day when patients were out of danger but not fit enough to return home.”
Katie Marsden said: “It would be good use for a conference centre or even sheltered accommodation with flats.”
Bruce Sachs is against the move to Howard Street.
He said: “Collegiate Campus is the jewel in the crown of SHU’s estate holdings. This intention to centralise everything in an already overcrowded city centre campus is insane.
“But they only recently and unnecessarily built big ugly city centre buildings that they want to fill in the face of dramatically reduced enrolments.”
Dr Graham Royle, chairman of GRI Group, supports the move.
He said: “This multi-year £140m investment by Hallam University is fantastic news and will both bring new vibrancy into the city centre via the main campus, and will free up the Collegiate Campus buildings in the suburbs for redevelopment.”
Angela Greenwood agreed: “Makes sense to consolidate their buildings into one big main campus in town. They sold off Psalter Lane a few years ago. Ecclesall Road would change drastically though with no students during the day.”
John Baxendale supplied some history.
He said: “The Main Building, built 1835 in early Gothic revival style, was originally Sheffield Collegiate School, later Royal Grammar School, a private boys’ secondary school which merged with Wesley College in 1905 to form King Edward’s.
“The site then became a teacher training college with the addition of the big Collegiate Hall building on Ecclesall Road, which was used as a military hospital during World War I. The college merged with Sheffield Polytechnic in the 1970s.”
In December, university chiefs said they were facing financial challenges and taking steps to reduce costs and increase income.
The 2024/25 budget required savings of more than £40m - some 12 per cent of our £330m turnover - “and we will need to reduce costs further in future years,” they said.
During 2024, about 500 people left through voluntary severance, more than 10 per cent of the workforce.
The December statement added: “In September, we welcomed nearly 28,000 new and returning students to Sheffield Hallam for the 2024/25 academic year. This demonstrates that Sheffield Hallam continues to be one of the largest and most popular universities in the country.”