Cannon Brewery: Developer needs £11m grant to fund exciting redevelopment in Neepsend, Sheffield

Developers need more than £11m from the taxpayer to redevelop a former Sheffield brewery because of inflation, it is claimed.

Capital & Centric is asking for £11.67m from the South Yorkshire mayor’s office to fill a ‘viability gap’ at Cannon Brewery in Neepsend.

The firm has unveiled £143m plans for 550 flats and commercial and business space on the plot, which has been disused for 25 years.

But it needs a grant of £11.67m to buy and prepare the site, provide ‘public realm’ and pay for surveys, reports and professional fees.

A report to the housing and infrastructure board at the mayoral combined authority states: "The justification for public sector intervention presented in the business case is based on construction price inflation making the delivery of the proposed scheme unviable."

The grant would give the company ‘profit on costs’ of £11.08m, it adds.

The money is set to come from the government’s Brownfield Housing Fund.

It would help Sheffield City Council come closer to its home building targets and bring a four-acre brownfield site back into use, the report adds. It would also ‘catalyse’ the regeneration of the area, help create about 90 jobs and boost the city’s economy by £4.1m a year, once complete.

Construction is set to start in February next year and last until November 2026.