Urban Splash favourite to redevelop Sheffield’s Cole Brothers building

Urban Splash has been selected as preferred bidder for the redevelopment of the Grade II listed former Cole Brothers building in Sheffield. The regeneration specialist plans to transform the building into a mixed-use space with substantial areas reopening for the public. It aims to re-establish the building as a place to meet, eat and shop in the city centre, with the ground floor filled with retail, food and drink and the upper floors providing flexible workspace. Following a marketing process led by CBRE, six proposals were received and considered. The council’s strategy and resources committee met today and agreed to proceed into detailed negotiations with Urban Splash, which counts the regeneration of Sheffield’s brutalist Park Hill Estate among its recent successes. Mark Latham, regeneration director at Urban Splash, said: “We know how important this building is to so many Sheffielders and look forward to sharing and developing our ideas for its future together with the city.” The plans will see the entrances onto public square Barker’s Pool and onto Cambridge Street opened up to allow for outdoor on-street dining areas, similar to the popular seating introduced on Division Street. The rest of the ground floor will be filled with shops, with particular interest in independent businesses, and the lower ground floors will be used for leisure purposes. The upper floors will be workspaces, studio spaces, a gym and rooftop offices together with a publicly accessible pocket park at the top of the former car park. The developers plan to keep the existing car park structure but with fewer parking spaces for use by the tenants of the building only. Tom Hunt, leader of Sheffield City Council and chair of the strategy and resource committee, said: “Breathing new life into the Cole Brothers building is an important part of the ongoing regeneration of our city centre. It is fantastic to have taken this next step forward. Detailed negotiations will now start between the council and Urban Splash. During the bid, Urban Splash worked with Stirling Prize-winning architecture firm AHMM. Co-founder Simon Allford’s father David Allford designed the Cole Brothers building more than 60 years ago. To send feedback, e-mail julia.cahill@eg.co.uk or tweet @EGJuliaC or @EGPropertyNews © AHMM Architects