A futuristic monorail, an upmarket hotel opposite Sheffield station and indoor ski slopes are just some of the exciting projects which have fallen by the wayside over the years. As work to transform the city centre continues apace, with a new hotel, food hall, homes and offices all under construction, we take a look at the proposals which didn’t make it.
1. Four-star hotel opposite Sheffield station
A four-star hotel with 200 bedrooms was planned opposite Sheffield station, on the site of Sheffield Hallam University's old Nelson Mandela Building, on Pond Street. A planning application for the development, which would also have included offices, restaurants and cafes, along with a basement car park, actually got the green light back in 2007 but construction never started. Photo: CTP St. James/Aedas Architects Ltd
2. Giant football beside the M1
Proposals for a 5.5-metre diameter steel football beside the M1 near Meadowhall, which would stand nearly 8m tall including the plinth, got the go-ahead in 2010. It was conceived by Sheffield FC, the world's oldest football club, to promote two of the city's greatest exports - the beautiful game and stainless steel. Plans for the sculpture were dealt a blow when the land off Shepcote Lane, in Tinsley, where it was to be located, was sold by the steel firm Outukumpu. They were revived four years ago as part of the Sheffield Home of Football campaign to better market the city's proud sporting heritage, but have since disappeared without trace again. Photo: HR Media
3. Monorail
Back in the 1970s, a monorail system was proposed for Sheffield city centre. The Minitram, as it was dubbed, would have been a driverless network with small cars each carrying around 15 passengers. It would have linked up the city's shopping districts, operating across two-and-a-half kilometres of track with nine stations. Thousands went to look at the blueprints in a public exhibition at Cole Brothers, which is now John Lewis – but the scheme was abandoned in 1975. Photo: Sheffield Newspapers Limited
4. Indoor slopes at Snow Mountain
Sheffield Ski Village was once Europe's largest artificial ski resort, attracting more than 180,000 visitors a year during its heyday. It could have been even bigger, had the £46 million Snow Mountain plans put forward by John Fleetham in 1999 come to fruition. Indoor ski slopes, gondola-style cable cars and an alpine-themed village were among the attractions proposed at the time. Sadly, Sheffield Ski Village was destroyed by fire in 2012 and despite various plans to replace it since then the site remains derelict. Photo: Other