'Great vote of confidence' in Sheffield as Forgemasters given green light for huge expansion
The steelmaker has been given permission to expand across two brownfield sites near Meadowhall
A plan to use two plots of land to expand Sheffield Forgemasters has been hailed as “a greater vote of confidence” in the city.
Members of Sheffield City Council’s planning committee heard from the officers of a proposal from Sheffield Forgemasters that would see new industrial buildings, a security building and fencing built with additional service areas and other associated works to be completed between Five Weirs Walk, Carbrook Street and Weedon Street.
As the Local Democracy Reporting Service explained last week, the site – divided into Plot 1 and Plot 2, totals approximately 7.54 hectares – has been acquired by steel firm Sheffield Forgemasters Engineering Ltd (SFEL) “for incorporation into their expansion project”.
A document added: “The majority of Plot 1 would be occupied by the machine shop building, which would run parallel to the River Don with a substantial footprint of 275 metres by 110 metres.
“The building would have three adjoining structural bays with shallow pitched roofs and an overall height of 36.5 metres (measured to the ridges of the ventilation pop-ups).”
Adjacent to the machine shop building, to the northeast, would be a smaller saw building which would operate as a ‘fourth bay’ housing 15% of the machines in the new facility.
The third and final proposed building would be a single-storey security building positioned adjacent to the main site entrance off Carbrook Street, finished in metal rainscreen cladding and perforated trapezoidal cladding, with an expanded metal mesh plant screen.
At the meeting, Sheffield Forgemasters chief operating officer Gareth Barker told the members that they had learnt over the years the old site and equipment of the business were “pretty old” so they have to do something about it.
He mentioned a £900million investment which could be used to solve this issue and build new buildings and get new adequate equipment.
The machine shop mentioned in the report is the key to the plan, Mr Barker added.
During the debate among council members, Cllr Henry Nottage said he was “surprised” that the cycling provision of the new building is low as the area has one of the oldest and best cycling routes in Sheffield.
He added this lacks ambition.
His party colleague, Cllr Marieanne Elliot also raised issues with the number of cycle spaces planned for the development.
Cllr Tony Downing told members that in the 1980s steel was “decimated” in Sheffield and people lost jobs.
He added Sheffield Forgemasters is an “asset” for the city.
His colleague, Cllr Mike Chaplin said the development was a “great vote of confidence” in Sheffield.
Councillors voted unanimously in favour of the application.