Sheffield Hallam University has unveiled proposals for the city’s tallest building as part of a masterplan to revamp its city centre campus. The university’s Director of Estates, Daniel Ladbury, told our Sheffield Development Plans Conference that it has been working with architects BDP on a 37-storey building.

Sheaf Street Tower, as it would be named, will contain conference and commercial space on the lower floors, with a 120-bed hotel and flats on top. The tower is part of a broader masterplan to concentrate the university’s city centre activities onto a single campus.

The university hoped that the tower would be a ‘catalyst’ for development in the area around the city’s mainline railway station – which will be further enhanced by the arrival of HS2.

Under the masterplan, Sheffield Hallam University plans to develop a new business school and social science building over the next five years, followed by a new student hub building and specialist teaching facilities and laboratories.

The university is also drawing up a framework for contractors, consultants and facilities management providers to deliver the masterplan. The framework would last the nine years over which Sheffield Hallam University expects the masterplan to be delivered.

He also told the event that the university has developed an engagement toolkit, based on work that is has done with stakeholders on its masterplan over the last year, which it is planning to market.

The public realm of its campus is also set to be developed, which lies between Sheffield station and the city centre, with Ladbury saying: ‘’We want to create more commercial space on Howard Street and turn it into a proper destination as you arrive into Sheffield.’’

Stuart Harris, Director and Founder of Queensberry, said that the developer is aiming to set a high standard with the first retail and hotel tenants that it signs for its Heart of the City II mixed use scheme in Sheffield.

A ‘huge gap’ exists in the city centre market for ‘really good quality’ retail restaurants and cafes, he said, citing Zara and the White Company as examples of shops that the city is currently missing. He said: ‘’We want the first couple of deals to be really good quality retailers and hotel operators.’’

And despite the widely advertised woes of the high street, there is still a healthy demand for the right kind of shops: ‘’Retail isn’t dead, boring retail is dead. Embryonic retailers see the halo effect of physical stores and how the two platforms can work together.’’

The Heart of the City II scheme will also feature Sheffield’s first food hall, showcasing the best of the region’s cuisines in a shared tabled environment, like the Time Out market in Lisbon.

He said that BAM Construct is due to complete the first office phase of the scheme, 160,000 sq ft of office which has been pre-let by HSBC. Queensberry now aim to ‘prudently’ phase the development of the remaining half a million sq ft offices, which it will be submitting for planning permission and will include a heavy element of co-working space: ‘’We don’t want to drop half a million sq ft of offices onto the Sheffield market.’’

John McNulty, Programme Director at the HS2 Growth Partnership, said that a feasibility study for the Sheffield station masterplan would be complete by the second quarter of 2019. The masterplan was designed to improve connections between Sheffield’s Sheaf valley and the city as well as upgrading the mainline railway station to take HS2 services.

Nik Hamilton, Investment Team Manager at Sheffield City Council, told the conference that Boeing is due to open its new £40m factory later this year. The 6,200 sq m plant, which will be the first developed by the US aerospace giant in Europe, will produce up to 8,000 components every month for its aircrafts’ wing flaps.

He also said that the third phase of the £100m The Moor retail and leisure scheme, which includes a 15,000 sq ft 7-lane bowling alley, is due to start this year.

Having completed the third building in its St Paul’s city centre development, Hamilton said CTP and its partner Schroders are discussing a fourth, whilst the £26.6m sale of the Acero grade A office development, which is part of the digital campus opposite Sheffield rail station, has spurred its developer to begin building the next phase soon.

The £65m New Era 86,000 sq ft mixed use scheme, which hopes to encourage Chinese companies to establish a foothold in Sheffield, is also currently under construction.

Beyond Sheffield city centre, he said the £300m extension to the Meadhowhall mall’s leisure hall is due to be on-site next year, while phase two of the regeneration of the grade I listed Park Hall housing estate is due to commence shortly, providing a mix of residential and office accommodation.

The recently established Sheffield Property Association aim to learn from other tier 2 cities around the world about how to increase their profile. Speaking to delegates one of the groups committee members, Kellie Hatton, said: ‘’When the Northern Powerhouse is discussed, we will be making sure that Sheffield is always mentioned and it’s not always Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds.’’

Finally she added that Sheffield is also currently bidding for £200m from the 5G urban connected communities project.

She added that Sheffield is also currently bidding for £200m from the 5G urban connected communities project.