Work starts on £86m Sheffield University super-lab a year after 'pause' due to funding crisis
University chiefs paused the project in January 2025 due to a £50m financial shortfall
Work has started on an £86m university super-lab in Sheffield almost two years after it was shelved due to a funding crisis.
Diggers have been delivered to the site on Upper Hanover Street set to become the University of Sheffield’s Central Teaching Laboratories.
The five-storey building is set to have two 300-student science labs and facilities for medicine, dentistry and health.
It comes after university chiefs paused the project in January 2025 due to a £50m financial shortfall. The original opening date was September 2027.
At the time, a university spokesperson said the super-lab remained a “strategic priority”.
The spokesperson said: "The start of the project will be paused by one year, to be reviewed at regular intervals in the context of the university’s finances.
“The development of the CTL remains a strategic priority as in order to attract the best students in a range of subjects we need to offer modern, world-class facilities. This is simply a temporary pause."
A Sheffield City Council report stated the removal of eight mature trees was a “negative” but “following negotiation” the university had agreed to plant eight street trees and 46 other trees on the campus.