City council set to bill owner of derelict former tool factory in trendy Kelham Island
The owner of a listed former tool factory in Sheffield’s trendiest district is set to be billed for repairs after it fell into dereliction.
Sheffield City Council sent contractors to Cornish Works. on Cornish Street in Kelham Island, after pleas for its ‘urgent’ preservation were not acted on.
Cornish Works is a collection of listed buildings, including crucible furnaces and a house, constructed in about 1850, and extended in the late nineteenth century.
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For many years it housed the world-famous tool manufacturer George Barnsley & Sons. The site has fallen into dereliction since the firm moved out in 2003.
Today it is owned by Garry Hastings and Josie Regis Hastings through their company Freddy and Barney Ltd.
In July last year Sheffield City Council issued an Urgent Works Notice with a list of actions necessary to preserve 19 buildings. It also warned if they weren’t done by August 2024 the authority would do the work itself and bill the owner.
Works include making the buildings wind and weatherproof and safe from collapse. Earlier this month workers were at the site and scaffolding had been erected in several places.
A Sheffield City Council spokesperson said: “Enforcement action around the Cornish Works building is ongoing and it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.”
Mr and Ms Hastings were approached for comment.
Cornish Works is one of the last heritage buildings to be converted into flats in popular Kelham Island.
It is also close to Neepsend where Sheffield City Council and Homes England want to build hundreds of homes.
The authority is taking enforcement action over three burnt out and derelict buildings owned by a different company on nearby Penistone Road and Dixon Street.