Work has commenced on the first phase of a new mixed-use development in Sheffield by Cartwright Pickard Architects, featuring Corten-clad elevations, and refurbishment of industrial red brick cutlers’ factories.
Located at the junction of Sidney Street and Matilda Street in the city’s Cultural Industries Quarter, the scheme encompasses existing red brick buildings, which previously housed cutlers’ workshops and metalworking factories.
Ex-industrial units including Albert works and Speedwell works will be mostly retained and repurposed, the existing building fabric sensitively restored to provide 83 new residential units, leisure space and commercial units aimed at creative businesses.
Cartwright Pickard will clad new build structures with Corten steel, replacing fatally damaged sections of the original early-20th-century buildings.
At street level, the rusty metal forms will interact with the red-brick structures, with junctions between the two elements carefully considered by the architects.
Three pitched gables on Matilda Street mirror the roof pitches of the existing factory building, and reflect the structural design of typical industrial units across the city.
On Sidney street, an elongated box sits above a double-height commercial block, interrupting the roofscape with a contrasting geometric form.
Multiple courtyards and a new public walkway along the Porter Brook provide the new urban block with outdoor space, allowing access to the retail units.
Phase two of the scheme will consist of student accommodation and private apartments.
Cartwright Pickard Architects are responsible for other major projects in Sheffield’s Cultural Industries Quarter, including the 2012 award-winning Seller’s Wheel development, and the recently completed Gatecrasher apartment building.
