‘Time is running out’ for Sheffield’s historic Central Library and Graves Gallery, says museums boss

In late 2017 the city council, which owns the Grade II-listed Art Deco site on Surrey Street, outlined its ambition to turn the place into a 'cultural hub', moving the library service into new, modern premises costing £20 million in the Heart of the City II scheme.

The proposal emerged when the authority admitted the building would not be converted into a five-star hotel - an idea that was part of a failed £1 billion, six-decade agreement with Chinese investment partner Sichuan Guodong Group.

There have since been no further announcements about Sheffield's intentions for the venue - and, as the structure falls increasingly into disrepair, Museums Sheffield CEO Kim Streets said action was needed.

"It needs some serious TLC now," she said.

In November the Graves Gallery had to close for several days when an issue with the heating meant the temperature was too cold for visitors, while last Wednesday it was forced to shut early because of a problem with the lighting on the building's main staircase.

Kim said such incidents were 'disappointing'.

"We don't want to be shutting the gallery at any point, we want to see it open all the time. Our team, to their credit, manage the space really very well. When it's chilly there are blankets. We make sure when you're in that space, you get the best from it. But it is a challenge."

She said the site had huge potential.

"It would be great to be in a position to extend, and to think about art throughout the building - to make the space warm, accessible and welcoming right the way through. It is a blank canvas. You could do something with it that addresses all those physical issues, but takes you into a new dimension."

The Central Library opened in 1934. The gallery, on the third floor, was created around a bequest from mail order magnate JG Graves.

"That vision Graves had for those two things side by side was extraordinary at the time," said Kim. "I think there's the potential to really push that - to think about our population, and what it needs now. You could say it needs spaces to be creative, to be able to think analytically, embrace new technologies and to be able to engage with great art - but to do that in a space that is inspiring."

Changes will definitely be required to ensure the building complies with the Disability Discrimination Act. Presently, visitors using wheelchairs have to use a separate side entrance on Arundel Gate.

"There's lots of willingness," said Kim. "You get that sense of excitement about the possibilities. We have to think big and really imagine how it could be this place for people right in the heart of the city centre. It would just bring Tudor Square to life. You could imagine it complementing what happens in the Millennium Gallery and the Winter Garden and the theatres. And, of course, what happens across the road at Sheffield Hallam University.

"We'd like to be further on but I'm confident we'll get there."

She said that, without any improvements, it was 'hard to put a time frame' on the building's lifespan.

"We recognise though that we're running out of time. We're working very hard to keep it functioning, and to make sure the works we've got in there are OK, and that our people are OK. We really want to keep it going. All the time we've got great things going on in that space, we're demonstrating the potential for it. We know it's not satisfactory. The loos aren't great, there's peeling paint, it's cold... we're acutely aware of that."

Arts Council England's new 10-year strategy will prioritise libraries, while in October the Government launched its £250 million Cultural Investment Fund, which Kim described as a 'really good move'. It is understood that £100 million is earmarked for museums and £25 million for libraries, with the money likely to be administered over a three to five-year period.

"When the criteria and the competition for that funding is announced we'll put some really serious thinking into whether we're bidding for the Graves Gallery or one of our other sites," Kim said. "We have to think quite carefully about that - is this the right pot for this, to do some mending, or actually do we go for the big prize which to my mind would be major capital investment."

The bill for renovating the Central Library was previously estimated as being around £40 million.

"We need to engage with our people and work out where that investment comes from," said Kim.

A new £21 million gallery - the Park Hill Art Space - is planned not far from the Graves at the Brutalist housing estate on the other side of the railway station. The S1 Artspace organisation will be putting together substantial funding bids, but Kim said she didn't 'see it as competition'.

"We need to have critical mass. As a city we need to have cultural experiences of all shapes and sizes, and there's an argument that says we need more. We're doing different things. We have the city's collection, which is huge."

Kim's hope is for the Central Library and Graves Gallery to have changed dramatically by 2030, taking the overhaul of Weston Park Museum - which cost £19 million and took from 2001 to 2006 to realise - as a precedent.

"It would be marvellous. You're looking at a project that's likely to take five years, at least."

Other similar recent schemes, such as the Turner Contemporary in Margate, Eastbourne's Towner Art Gallery and The Hepworth Wakefield, have benefited from significant local authority spending. Sheffield Council is in a state of flux with a change of leader on the horizon, no permanent chief executive and a vacancy for a director of culture.

"What we need to have before we bid to anyone is the full support of the city," said Kim. "Sheffield needs to invest in this and to be right behind it. We need to do it together and we need to do it brilliantly."