Workers ‘fear for their life’ as they narrowly avoid falling debris from abandoned Sheffield building

Dr Khalid Al-Kufaishi, 70, a semi-retired dentist, owns one of the two buildings at Lion Works, Spital Hill.

The building next to Dr Al-Kufaishi’s has been abandoned by owners, and he claims it has been left untouched for years.

His building, now called Spital Dream Residential, is near completion - but their workers cannot finish the work they have planned as they say the site is too dangerous to work on due to next door’s property.

He said: “We experience life threatening incidents from the falling debris. Around 8 months ago, a huge wooden structure fell down from their building and missed one of my workers by a metre.

“My builders can’t work, they feel scared that something is going to fall again and hit them. They won’t risk it.

“To date no action has been taken to remove the danger to ourselves and our workers.”

The Lion Works buildings, opposite Tesco Extra in Spital Hill have been reported to the Council, according to Al-Kufaishi.

Sheffield City Council Service Manager LA Building Standards, Chris Jones, said: “We’re grateful to Mr Al-Kufaishi for raising this issue. We would encourage him to contact us via our usual communication processes so that we can understand his concerns more fully.

While the Council does have certain powers in relation to dangerous buildings, it can only intervene as a very last resort, and would then seek to rigorously pursue any costs incurred via the legal process.”