A trio of developers has submitted plans for an £80m indoor ski complex in Sheffield this week.
The joint venture, known as Parkwood Springs Developments, comprises developers Brian Craig and Craig Marks, as well as John Fleetham, owner of Sheffield’s existing outdoor Ski Village.
The jv has earmarked a 30-acre hillside site adjoining Ski Village on which it wants to build a 300m-long indoor ski slope covered in “real” snow, to be known as Snow Mountain.
If approved, the slope would be the longest indoor facility in the UK and would feature an indoor cable car system and vertical drop of 70m.
A further 41,000 sq ft of retail and leisure facilities and a 50,000 sq ft, four-star hotel are included in the plans for the scheme, located near junction 36 of the M1.
An ambitious proposal to link the site to Sheffield’s tram system and the nearby suburb of Shirecliff via a Swiss-designed “gondola cableway” is also included in the plans.
If the application is successful, Parkwood Springs will seek public grants to help fund infrastructure improvements.
Craig’s company, Craig European, drew up the original plans to open similar indoor snow complexes in Milton Keynes and Castleford.
The development rights were subsequently sold to Capital & Regional, which operates both facilities under the X-Scape brand.
Craig’s other ventures include Brookmount, the £100m listed property developer that was active in the 1980s, while Marks has assembled a number of regeneration sites around the UK.
Marks said: “This scheme will establish the site as a major attraction of national significance.
“We have already had discussions with the city council and Yorkshire Forward. We believe the Snow Mountain resort will be a core driver for economic development in the Don Valley.”
The scheme is designed by Newcastle-based architect Faulkner Browns, which also worked on C&R’s Milton Keynes scheme.
References: EGi News 27/01/05
