Fire safety changes to Sheffield student flats plan
Fire safety improvements have been made to plans dating back 10 years to build student flats on the site of a car showroom on Ecclesall Road.
Hallminster Ltd has submitted an amended planning application to Sheffield City Council to bring the proposals up to safety standards imposed following the Grenfell Tower fire disaster in London when 72 people died.
The company won planning permission in 2016 to build four blocks of student flats on the car showroom site near Champs sports bar at the bottom of Ecclesall Road. It has since made several amendments to details of its plans.
A letter to the council planning department from architects Southall & Sarabia says the latest changes are in response to the Building Safety Act.
It says that residential buildings that are 18 metres or seven storeys high must have extra safety precautions in place.
Committed
The proposals involve adding an evacuation lift near the stairway of every residential block. This would affect the basement parking layout and the layouts of some apartments.
The development would still have 188 student flats but the number of one-bed units would increase from 31 to 42. The number of two-bed units is still 90 but three-bed units have reduced from 17 to 12 and six four-bed units have been dropped altogether.
The letter says that the applicant is “still fully committed to delivering this scheme”.
Another plan before the council would see six lock-up garages in Nethergreen Road, Nether Green demolished and replaced by commercial units for indoor sport, recreation and fitness use.
Sheffield property developer Ackroyd & Abbott Ltd wants to build two single-storey industrial units.