Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Streets remade in the sky
Park Hill Sheffield
Ideal homes from a utopian dream
Loved, loathed, languished and listed. That the monumental Park Hill estate is an ideal home to so many today is no small feat. The utopian dream of the late 1950s took just three years to build, but a decade to transform it following years of notorious neglect and underinvestment. This bold solution to the post-war housing shortage needed a brave regeneration scheme half a century on.
Daring and determination have paid off. With homes remodelled and apartments filled on the famous Streets in the Sky, phase one is a residential success. Park Hill is winning over the city of Sheffield once again with its renewed sense of optimism and pride. There’s a buzz on the ground level too. From creative workplaces to shops, a microbrewery to a children’s nursery, Park Hill’s original community spirit has endured.
\I think this scheme gives real meaning to the word regeneration’; it represents a new beginning, a new vitality\ Ivor Smith Original architect of Park Hill
20 design accoladesincluding a RIBA Stirling Prize (shortlisted) and a RIBA National Award.
By the late 1990s, English Heritage was compelled to give Park Hill listed status. As its long-serving caretaker, Grenville Squires, succinctly put it, the estate was in need of some 'tender loving care'. Facing declining public investment, a developer-led design competition sought a team who would invest financially and emotionally in the estate’s regeneration. Our winning vision recognised the need to reconnect Park Hill to Sheffield and turn the development into a destination. Together with developers Urban Splash, and our collaborators Studio Egret West, we wrote ten principles to help put things right, from addressing fundamental repairs to how the new Park Hill would court Sheffield.
Park Hill was pioneering in its ambition and scale. In terms of regeneration, it also has few precedents. Transforming Europe’s largest Grade II* listed structure meant addressing the project’s complexity, locking in design quality and meeting the commercial demands, especially through a recession. The scheme needed to be flexible enough to adjust. Our support as lead consultant took us on a journey with our partners from masterplanning to completion. It involved a spectrum of stakeholder negotiations, including with English Heritage, who adopted a progressive conservation approach. This allowed us to retain and reinvigorate the successful elements of the original scheme, while reinterpreting and reinventing where it had faltered.
Transforming Europe’s largest listed building
Project: Park HillLocation: Sheffield, UKClient: English Heritage, Great Places Housing Group, HCA, Sheffield City Council, Urban Splash Services: Architecture, interior design, working with artists Scope: Regeneration, retrofit, mixed useValue: £120mStatus: Complete (phase 1), concept (phase 2)
Anodised aluminium panelsTransforming a tired façade: Coloured anodised aluminium panels introduce a lustrous effect, drawing on the original scheme’s coloured brick tones for inspiration.
Concrete frameRetaining Park Hill’s original concrete frame required over 5,000 in situ repairs, preserving the brutalist construction and offering an inherently sustainable solution.
Softening a brutalist structureOne of the biggest housing estates in Britain, Park Hill has had an uncomfortable relationship with its natural landscape and human neighbours. Many have found it alienated from the main city.
We worked closely with Grant Associates on the site’s landscape design, capturing the rugged beauty of the nearby Peak District and bringing the adjacent city park into Park Hill.
While adding a piece of parkland, we’ve also taken something away. ‘The Cut’, a giant four-storey hole through the building where it sits closest to the city, transforms the mega structure. What was once often perceived as a man-made cliff face is now an open place that welcomes Sheffield in. And a new ‘pavement’ of retail, commercial and community spaces attracts residents, workers and visitors alike.
\While being sympathetic to the best of the old, the architectural interventions are very new. Park Hill’s brutalist frame is like a favourite pair of old jeans – worn, patched up and made good – but now with a jewel-encrusted belt that shimmers across the city\Greg Moss Partner
874flats
7,600sq m of commercial space.
Mixed use At the ground level of the building a new ‘high street’ is being created allowing offices, local shops, bars, pubs and restaurants to be established, revitalizing the public realm for both residents and visitors to Park Hill.
“Like being in heaven up here” Dual-aspect apartments, fit for 21st-century living, have been given a thorough facelift and recapture the feeling that the first residents had of Park Hill. Exposed concrete references the building’s heritage.
Natural landscapeDesigned in collaboration with Grant Associates, angular forms and loose natural planting add a touch of the Peak District to the building's surroundings.
The streets in the sky Forming a two mile network that enables residents to walk under cover and on the flat around the whole scheme, chatting with neighbours along the way.
The old and the newThe once run-down estate is now a shining community asset and a beacon of light for the city of Sheffield.
A Park Hill resident's windowThe community has made a competition to display the most outlandish objects in their windows on the streets in the sky.
Making the most of your site Hawkins\Brown is a modern British architectural practice with an award-winning approach to design. We put our hearts and minds into realising your project’s potential. You’ll discover creativity, commitment and a desire to collaborate to reach the best solution.
To find out more about our practice or talk to us about your project, contact:
Seth [email protected]+44 (0)20 7336 8030
London\159 St John StreetEC1V 4QJ+44 (0)20 7336 8030
Edinburgh\Spaces, 1 Lochrin Sq92 FountainbridgeEH3 9QA+44 (0)131 370 8820
hawkinsbrown.com
Manchester\3C Tariff StreetM1 2FF+44 (0)161 641 5522
Los Angeles\2128 Cotner AveCA 90025+1 213 493 2001
