5 big Sheffield planning applications in the pipeline from Dore Moor Garden Centre to Canada House

Plans to turn Dore Moor Garden Centre on Brickhouse Lane into a retirement complex have sparked protests.

Inspired Villages are seeking planning permission from Sheffield City Council to build up to 125 new homes plus communal and care facilities including a restaurant, cafe, meeting space and a wellbeing suite with a spa pool, gym, studio and treatment rooms.

A total of 91 people have commented on the application, 86 of which objected.

Dore Village Society said on Twitter: “Ethel Haythornthwaite is likely to be turning in her grave. Check out this planning application for a Retirement Community on the site of Dore Moor garden centre (across the road from the Haythornthwaite memorial woodland). This is Green Belt land. Object!”

Ethel Haythornthwaite was a countryside campaigner who was instrumental in getting her beloved Peak District protected as Britain’s first national park.

Harmony Works

One of the biggest parts of the Levelling Up Fund plans to reinvigorate the Castlegate area of the city centre is the coming transformation of a historic office building into a centre for the city’s young musicians.

Canada House on Commerical Street was built in 1874 as the headquarters of Sheffield United Gas Light Company. It will be transformed into Harmony Works, a £12m plan to create a central music education and performance centre.

The project won council planning approval and aims to be open by September 2024.

Castlegate

Elsewhere in the Castlegate area, the city’s birthplace will be celebrated by a new green space with the Sheffield Castle ruins on show and the River Sheaf will be deculverted. The archaeological work on Castlegate will feature on BBC Two’s Digging for Britain at 8pm on Sunday, January 15.

A sixth form centre run by Sheffield College is also part of the scheme. Proposals for a major outdoor art gallery linking Castlegate to Park Hill are currently being finalised.

Heart of the City 2

At the other end of the city centre, the Heart of the City transformation continues and much of phase two is expected to be completed this year.

Work is currently rejuvenating Cambridge Street to feature a food hall, restaurant space and a rooftop bar. Former Little Mesters workshops at Leah’s Yard will include shops and workspaces for craftspeople.

Other parts of phase two include a new Radisson Blu hotel on Pinstone Street, offices on Trafalgar Street and apartments also on Pinstone Street.

Fargate

Future High Streets government funding is giving a new look to Fargate and the High Street. The delay-hit container park on Fargate will soon be moving to make way for building work to start on Event Central, a six-storey music and cultural venue.

The area will also get the Grey to Green landscaping seen around a lot of city centre areas and funding will help make use of the upper floors of buildings.

Apartment block

Student accommodation specialist Code Living is hoping to take advantage of these changes by applying to the council for permission to build a 963-apartment block at the junction of Wellington Street, Rockingham Street and Trafalgar Street. The project, featuring a cinema and gym, is aimed at students and young people.

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