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Park Hill Flats Regeneration (Urban Splash)

619K views 3K replies 267 participants last post by  gerryuk 
#1 ·
The now council-approved regeneration plans for the Grade II* listed Park Hill Flats by Urban Splash and Sheffield City Council.

Article from the Sheffield Star:

DEVELOPERS Urban Splash say their aim is "to make Park Hill the best place in Sheffield, period".

But it won't be the first time someone has tried that.
Back in the 1950s high-rise housing was considered the answer for the new post-war world. It was a way to rehouse people on a massive scale; to take them out of their cold, damp back-to-backs and give them homes fit for heroes.

Park Hill was the site of the first large scale slum clearance in Britain, the previous back-to-back housing was known as 'Little Chicago' in the 1930s, due to the violent crimes committed there.
Architects Ivor Smith and Jack Lynn had a vision of streets in the sky – a world apart from the crumbling slums.

Its broad decks, wide enough for milk floats, had large numbers of front doors opening onto them with shops and post offices.
And for a while, it worked. People loved their new homes, their modern kitchens, the light and the air and the generous spaces.

The council and their architects took great care to rehouse people on a street-by-street basis, keeping neighbour next to neighbour.
But, over time, Park Hill became a victim of a changing world. The brutal 50s style of architecture never caught on, housing policies changed, unemployment gripped the country, miners lost their jobs, and steelworkers were laid off.

Gradually the complex fell into disrepair and by the 1990s it was being shown, somewhat unflatteringly, on cinema screens all over the world as part of the introduction to the Sheffield-set movie The Full Monty.
So if it didn't work before why should it work again?
Many think Park Hill is so ugly and so prominent it should be just pulled down instead - but by law a listed building cannot be demolished.

Park Hill became Grade ll* listed in 1998 and is now the largest listed building in Europe.
English Heritage argue the site is of international importance.
When the building was listed they said: "Park Hill has been regularly studied by sociologists ever since it was opened, and is one of the most successful of its type.

"The deck system was uniquely appropriate here because of the steeply sloping site allowed all but the uppermost deck to reach ground level, the impact of the long, flat topped structure rising above the city centre makes for one of Sheffield's most impressive landmarks."

Urban Splash believe by attracting chic restaurants and trendy shops the image of Park Hill can be rescued.
But will the "bacon and egg ice cream" and "snail porridge" outlined in the vision be enough to whet the appetite of the Sheffield property market?

http://www.urbansplash.co.uk




 
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#2 ·
Whatever they do with Park hill flats it'll always look :banned: (...)
I mean just look at those pictures! It looks the same with a few more colours... Looks like a kid has drawn that!
Sheffield these days gets most things rights in terms of developments etc, but park hill isn't one of them. Knock 'em down I say!!!
 
#5 ·
jazz-sheff said:
they've tried to make park hill more colourful in those pics by putting people with bright clothes there and hot air balloons in the sky! the buiding looks exactly the same though!
They plan to make some changes to the buildings' cladding. I don't think Urban Splash ever planned to do much though as they seem to like them and they can't anyway as they're listed. The scheme seems to be devoted more to the surrounding landscaping and amenities provided than the buildings themselves though.

Proposed Cladding



 
#10 ·
Urban splash certainly have vivid imaginations.

I personally think that Park Hill flats are beautiful. With i slightly more respectable bunch of residents, better security and surveillance, improved amenities and a bit of a general spruce up, there will be no problem with them if you ask me.
 
#11 ·
Its a shame they couldn't produce some realistic renders of this. No one doubts the groove-rating of Urban Splash, and hot air balloons and giant liquorice men may be attainable but I do somehow doubt they will be able to get the weather to do what its doing on those pictures....
 
#14 ·
They're limited to how they can alter the exteriors, but they can make small alterations. Despite all the skepticism, I think Urban Splash will do well for Park Hill and while it certainly wont have Bertie Bassett as a resident, it will be a hell of a lot better than it is now.

They cant tear them down so are making the best out of a bad situation, I think its time we all accepted that and thew our support behind Urban Splash because nobody wants them to fail in their task. If it goes tits up, which I truly hope it doesn't, then you can all moan to your heart's content.

:)
 
#16 ·
Oh my god, I hope this is a joke!

However, take away all the hippy-shit, and you could actually make a nice little community. When I had a placement at Duke Medical Centre, Talbot Street, I used to walk home occasionally past these. There's a school, pub and Post-Office (albeit closed) on site. If someone could encourage retail and other businesses into the area, it'd look good. Add to that the changes to the tram (not sure if that's possible, but anyway) and with improced access, it could be a nice area to live.
 
#17 ·
I caught the end of "Don Cruickshank's Wonders of the Modern World" last night on BBC2 which featured Park Hill Flats. It looked very intesresting and I was dissapointed to have missed the rest of it.

Does anyone know if it will be repeated on BBC4 perhaps, or did anyone see the program?
 
#18 ·
Even in the renders with lots of different colours they still look ugly. If they can knock some great buildings down to build ugly buildings, then why the hell can we not do it in reverse.

High density housing doesn't have to look like it has come straight out of Volgagrad.
 
#19 ·


:hilarious

English Heritage advised that it be listed. English Heritage is one of these dumb ass quangos full of **** wits who don't know what they're on about. They advisewd that this entire, badly planned carbucle should be maintained to preserve the example of brutalism. Never mind that it is a miserbale place where very few people want to live.

There are two storey sections of Park Hill that could've been kept to preserve the "example of brutalism", the bulk of it should be pulled down. Painting it in silly colours and hanging balloons off of it ain't gonna change very much in the long term.
 
#20 ·
Blabbernsmoke said:

English Heritage advised that it be listed. English Heritage is one of these dumb ass quangos full of **** wits who don't know what they're on about. They advisewd that this entire, badly planned carbucle should be maintained to preserve the example of brutalism. Never mind that it is a miserbale place where very few people want to live.

There are two storey sections of Park Hill that could've been kept to preserve the "example of brutalism", the bulk of it should be pulled down. Painting it in silly colours and hanging balloons off of it ain't gonna change very much in the long term.[/QUOTE]

:applause:

Totally agree.

I've only been to Sheffield once and was really impressed. However, my initial view of the city was yuk, because the first thing I saw on leaving the train station via the tram was these flats. They are such a shocking advert for any newbie to the area.
 
#202 ·
:applause:


I've only been to Sheffield once and was really impressed. However, my initial view of the city was yuk, because the first thing I saw on leaving the train station via the tram was these flats. They are such a shocking advert for any newbie to the area.
Heres an example of what i mean^^
 
#23 ·
^^ Fair point, but what i think is more important is that they are gonna get scubbed up good and proper on the outside, and completely renovated on the inside. The whole concept was originally a bright and bold design, with contempory interiors, space, functionality, security (for the time) and almost everything one would need on their doorstep. :cheers:

So who cares if, because of the changing times, it didn't work, because the concept still stands, it's what the yuppies want today, so they are simply upgrading the building, but not the reason why it was built.

Like I pointed out on the brutalism thread, if a building of this type is well maintained, and looked after, people will love it, and the building will remain functional and desireable. Need an example?



Le Corbusier's Unite de Habitation, in France (not Volograd!), was the design that inspired Park Hill, today it looks much like the way it did when it was built, in 1946, and remains will liked and a desireable place to live and work in.

Yes, Park Hill looks gash at the moment, but thats because of nearly 50 years of neglect, if you look at the cladding pictures posted earlier you can get a glimpse of the original colours under the filth, they were bright, and it will look good when it gets cleaned.

Believe me, once its been done, many of you will (hopefully) change your minds! :horse:
 
#24 ·
I watched the Dan Cruikshank programme about architecture. He began by saying something like.....And then in the late fifties came a development which would change the face of British architecture forever. The Sheffield bit lasted a good five minutes or more & showed a lot of old black & white 1960's newsreels about 'streets in the sky' etc & strange-sounding Yorkshire working-class people saying 'Ee 'eck-but it's grand-inside lavvies' type of thing.
I think it was the biggest block of flats in Europe when it was built.
One clip showed an old milk-cart on about floor ten. How did it get up there? Then Dan(he of the Oxford accent, battered straw hat & silk scarf-fame) had a walk on the roof. How did HE get up there? I was hoping we would now see the modern city skyline but instead got Dan's battered wind-swept face surveying the view.
I think it mentioned how the flats dominate the city etc. Interspersed with the old black & white clips were modern colour shots showing how grim most of it(the flats) look now. 1950's dream-turned-1990's nightmare message came across. Fair enough.
What many folk don't know is there was a tall 17 storey tower in the middle which got demolished. This towered over the city-if seen from,say, Fitzalan Square, like Prague or Edinburgh castles tower over their cities.

Zim Flyer-have you ever been to Volgograd? Previously called Stalingrad-the allies would have probably lost the last war but for millions of brave Russians here. The Yanks dont tell you that in their daft war-films. Volgograd has the world's tallest free-standing statue(built on a tall hill so it looks even taller). The communists were actually very good at preserving quality architecture. Visit St Petersburg or Prague & you'll be amazed.
 
#25 ·
LINCS OWL said:
Zim Flyer-have you ever been to Volgograd? Previously called Stalingrad-the allies would have probably lost the last war but for millions of brave Russians here. The Yanks dont tell you that in their daft war-films. Volgograd has the world's tallest free-standing statue(built on a tall hill so it looks even taller). The communists were actually very good at preserving quality architecture. Visit St Petersburg or Prague & you'll be amazed.

The only good communist is a dead communist.

I've seen communists in action and the only reason they preseve places like the Kremlin and other palaces is because they like to live in them, whilst building shite for the workers.

If I had the time or energy I could list thousands of shocking examples of communist architecture. Palace of the Republic anyone :puke:

By the way stick your history lesson up your arse. Have I heard of Stalingrad, christ sake where are these newbies coming from. :eek:hno:
 
#26 · (Edited)
DMT20 said:
A word of caution though: It wastnt that long ago that we were tearing down thousands of Victorian terraces because they were out of favour, now they are highly saught after. I seriously thing that knocking down park hill would be a mistake and a decision that people would come to regret in 30 years time.

The difference is that these Victorian buildings with some work and improvements can look great, where as Park Hill Flats could be covered in solar panals and painted in gold and would still look like the monster it is.

Demolish them and do it quick.
 
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