Yorkshire’s tallest tower will be built in Sheffield city centre

Members of Sheffield City Council’s Planning and Highways Committee have today (January 9) granted approval for the erection of what is going to be Yorkshire’s tallest tower in Sheffield city centre.

The 40-storey, co-living residential tower will be made up of 428 co-living units, including one four-bed cluster, 37 five-bed clusters, 37 six-bed clusters, one seven-bed cluster, one 10-bed cluster, and seven studios.

The plan is first to demolish the existing building – a vacant site for the last seven years since Primark moved out – on High Street and build a new 40-storey residential tower with a ground-floor commercial unit in its place.

Private units will come with their own kitchen, bathroom, storage, workspace and where possible, a balcony. Shared units on each floor will have a large family room including a kitchen and dining area, TV/gaming room, work and study room, guest toilets, storage and a unit kept for overnight guests.

Residents will also be able to use, at no additional cost, workspaces, cycle stores, private meeting and dining rooms, cinema/presentation rooms, gym, bar and lounges, and roof terraces will be incorporated “wherever possible”.

A planning officer confirmed that the developer had also agreed to a contribution of £75,000 to the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive for new and improved facilities at the Castle Square tram stop.

At today’s committee meeting, Cllr Mike Chaplin then asked the officer about the building’s actual height but he didn’t get an answer.

He was only told that the tower would be six metres taller than the previously approved 39-storey tower would have been, a plan which has since been seemingly shelved.

Other councillors raised concerns about potential overheating due to the amount of glass that would be used during construction, the number of co-living spaces in a 40-storey building and the potential lack of extractions in individual kitchens.

In the end, members have voted in favour of CJS7 Ltd (trading as Oppidan Life) and SFGE Properties Ltd’s application – with one against and two abstentions.