Attercliffe regeneration: World-beating NHS children’s health research centre faces delay

The National Centre for Child Health Technology (NCCHT) to be built at the Olympic Legacy Park forms a key part of plans to breathe new life into the former thriving heart of the city’s steel-making area, using £17m of government Levelling Up funding.

A report to be discussed at Sheffield City Council’s transport, regeneration and climate change policy committee tomorrow (November 15) gives an update on the progress of the regeneration project.

The NCCHT, which was announced in February, is being created by Sheffield Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. It will develop world-leading research and build new technologies to solve the biggest challenges in children’s healthcare such as inequalities, mental health, obesity, long-term conditions, cancer and disability.

Children’s Hospital NHS trust chief executive Ruth Brown said at the launch event: “We will be creating a partnership between patients, children and young people with clinicians and experts, academia and industry. There will be spaces where they can work alongside each other to design new ways of treatment for the future.”

The £20m centre will be paid for by £8m of the Levelling Up funding, plus £6m from the South Yorkshire Mayoral combined authority and £3-4m from the Children’s Hospital Charity.

The report to the committee said that the rest of the money was to have been raised by private borrowing but rising interest rates have forced a rethink. The Children’s Hospital Board is now looking for a procurement partner to come on board.

This process will add delays to the project, which Ms Brown in February said was intended to open in 2025. However, this is not expected to affect the Levelling Up funding, which has deadlines for money to be spent, as the council is liaising with the government.

Another key element of the project is a new-look Adelphi Square, with the council’s purchase of the old Adelphi Cinema completed in March. The grade II-listed building has now gone on the market for an operator to lease the Adelphi and revive it as a cultural hub.

The report said that 16 organisations have shown an interest and the deadline to register an expression of interest is December 8. After that, plans will be drawn up for remedial work to be done.

Plans were also submitted to the council in August for Attercliffe Waterside, a 1,000-home canal-side housing development with associated arts and cultural spaces and co-working premises based in renovated buildings.

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Leeds firm Citu is developing the scheme. The first phase involves plans to revamp six disused buildings, including the former Spartan steelworks, on Attercliffe Road and build 447 timber-framed flats and houses between Effingham Road and the River Don, plus a footbridge over it.

Levelling Up-funded work on the area’s transport network includes “high-quality paving on the footway and segregated cycle route along the A6178 Attercliffe Road through the centre of Attercliffe”, the report said. Other items include improvements to five car parks, a cycle hub at the Olympic Legacy Park tram stop improvements and repairs to an aqueduct.

A new Attercliffe Area Board, chaired by MP Clive Betts, has been set up to oversee the area’s redevelopment.

Membership includes representatives from local businesses, councillors, partners and groups and is supported by council officers.