NHS ordered to secure burnt-out Sheffield office after trespassing children spark fatal accident fears
“The council will be monitoring the situation and will be issuing a formal notice requiring improvements to the site security”
Sheffield City Council has ordered the NHS to secure a burnt-out office amid fears of a fatality among trespassing children.
The authority is issuing a formal notice requiring beefed up security at Fulwood House after video emerged of children hanging off the outside and playing on the roof of an eight-storey block.
A council spokesperson said: “The council will be monitoring the situation and will be issuing a formal notice requiring improvements to the site security arrangements.
“This will include strengthening the identified weak points within the perimeter cordon and boarding up accessible ground floor openings to prevent unauthorised entry and reduce the risk to public safety.”
Sheffield Health Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust was approached for comment. Last week, it said it would take action after an investigation.
The site has been empty since 2023.
Following a spike in trespassing children over the summer, local residents have raised fears of an accident similar to that seen at the old Hallam Towers in Broomhill. It was popular with urban explorers before 19-year-old student Thomas Rhodes fell to his death in March 2017.
A sale of the Fulwood site was originally agreed in 2022 and developer Expresso Properties went on to submit plans for a £50m housing development.
But the NHS said a sale contract expired in November last year and the site was put back on the market.
Despite this, Expresso’s proposal was granted planning permission in July this year.
And planning officers have been corresponding with an Expresso director about a section 106 agreement which will see financial contributions to improve local facilities.
The Fulwood House site includes a heritage building which was wrecked in a fire last year and is set to be demolished.
The eight-storey office has had two fires on the top floor.
The sprawling site includes several low rise office blocks and has a long perimeter facing fields and woods in the Porter Valley.