Letter: Surely we should be keeping Sheffield's John Lewis building?

This letter was written by Elizabeth Motley from S10
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I refer to the front page on the ongoing future of the city centre consultation – ‘Over to you’ - although no decisions have yet been made, I am becoming increasingly worried that two out of three options being put forward for John Lewis include total demolition and rebuilding.

Surely retrofit should be prioritised in order to align with government policy to tackle the climate crisis, and develop a scheme which minimises carbon emissions? The first thing that should be done is to examine creative proposals for a comprehensive retrofit of the existing building surely?

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Added to this many people see this building as part of Sheffield’s heritage, I know not everyone loves the architecture, but the front elevation sits well across from the City Hall, forming one side of Barkers Pool.

The John Lewis store.The John Lewis store.
The John Lewis store.

Total demolition and rebuild is being proposed on the grounds of ‘asbestos removal costs’ – however, I believe that it would make sense before going any further, to allow an independent asbestos specialist to make their own assessment and check that the costs being put forward are accurate to modern methods of asbestos removal.

Only once this check, and proposals for a comprehensive retrofit have been developed, and put forward for assessment against the brief, should other options be considered.

As an architect, I believe that the existing building could be completely transformed inside and out, and a blend of new uses included, without the need for demolition. There is a great opportunity here to give this building a new lease of life without starting all over again, and at the same time to meet our climate targets.

Sheffield is known as a ‘green’ city, let us extend this to our city centre built environment too.