INVESTING FOR THE FUTURE
When did you last visit the University? If it was more than five years ago, you are in for a surprise
↑ MAIN IMAGE: Jessop West, home to many departments in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, with the Department of Music’s Jessop Building on the right. In the foreground, traffic is now restricted along Leavygreave Road.
ABOVE, FROM TOP:
The Diamond, opened in 2015, is sited between the Jessop Building and St George’s Church on Portobello.
Students relax and work among the new plantings along Leavygreave Road.
Jessop Hospital, originally opened in 1878, photographed in 1948.
© Sheffield Libraries and Archives
The area around Portobello and Leavygreave Road has been transformed. Stunning public spaces with safe routes for cyclists and pedestrians are now blended with sitting out and open-air working areas – and plenty of new planting and art works. More spacious and safer crossings on Western Bank and Upper Hanover Street make it easier for students, staff and members of the public to move around the campus.
This was a joint project between the University and Sheffield City Council, with a funding contribution of £2.9 million from the Sheffield City Region Investment Fund. The cycle and pedestrian routes are an extension of the council’s ‘gold route’ from the railway station through the city centre and now up to the campus. A cycle hub located close to the Students’ Union provides secure storage and changing facilities for our cycling community.
The Concourse, the key thoroughfare joining the Students’ Union and Firth Court and the Alfred Denny Building, has also been refurbished – with most of the work complete in time to welcome all our visitors for Summer Graduation. Less obvious to visitors but equally important to our students and staff has been a makeover of the Information Commons. First opened in 2007, recent student feedback has resulted in more study spaces and new furniture.
Current projects include the development of two new artificial pitches at the Norton Sports Centre – one for hockey and one for rugby/football, and the creation of the Engineering Heartspace, with a stunning glass roof over a quadruple height atrium. This major addition to the facilities of the Faculty of Engineering is scheduled for completion in late 2019.
www.sheffield.ac.uk/efm/estatesdevelopment/projects