People walking through the Castlegate and Fitzalan Square areas of Sheffield will soon see some significant changes with the start of two major improvement schemes.
Work on Fitzalan Square as part of the £5m knowledge gateway programme is already under way whilst the £5m extension of the award-winning Grey To Green scheme into Castlegate is also expected to begin in the Spring.
Both schemes are funded by the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership and Sheffield City Council with contributions from Sheffield Hallam University to the Knowledge Gateway and the Canal and Rivers Trust to Grey to Green.
Grey To Green is an extension of the Phase 1 works completed in 2016 around West Bar, Bridge Street and the bottom of Snig Hill, scooping a wheelbarrow of awards. Work is set to start on site in March 2019.
The Grey To Green scheme will see the former inner ring road from Exchange Place to Blonk Street narrowed with major environmental improvements including an extensive network of Sustainable Urban Drainage with meadow, cycleways, expanded footways, street furniture and public art.
In addition, the project will bring economic regeneration into the area as well as enhance the connectivity of the hotels in the area; encouraging new cafes, bars and resturants between Victoria Quays and Kelham Island.
The first of these is already nearing completion on the corner of Blonk Street and Castlegate in the former public toilets.
In Sheffield’s historic Fitzalan Square, work has already started on new perimeter walls which will continue until the middle of March. A new bus lane is being constructed in High Street and the routes through the square will be made one way.
Councillor Mazher Iqbal, cabinet member for business and investment at Sheffield City Council, said: “Sheffielders will soon be able to enjoy a vibrant transformation taking place in two of the city’s most historic areas.
“Work to improve Fitzalan Square will rightly reflect its proud heritage as the scene of many occasions in the city’s history. And the Grey To Green scheme will allow the Castlegate transformation to continue, instilling new pride in the area whilst also creating sustainable flood defences that keep Sheffield safer.”
Fitzalan Square, the city’s first civic space, will see traffic diverted to its western side allowing a much larger and attractive pedestrian area.
Work on the Marples footway will take place in March, with new public space outside Sheffield Institute of Arts, the former head post office, starting in April and completing in late May.
The rest of the paving work in the square will also commence in April, completing in August. Work on Flat Street is already under way and should complete in early March.
The buildings at the top of Esperanto Place are set to be demolished at the end of March, creating a striking new vista from Norfolk Street towards the square itself.
Amey will then start construction of the steps and landscaping between Arundel Gate and Esperanto Place, completing this work in August. Final works should be completed later in the year.
Sheffield Council announced plans in 2017 to upgrade the route from the Edwardian-era square along Pond Street to Paternoster Row and Brown Street, the focus of the Cultural Industries Quarter, as well as improving connections to the city centre and station.
