With exclusive access throughout the design process of what would have been Yorkshire's tallest building we look at the evolution of a building that gets progressively more ambitious before reaching a frustrating anti-climax.

History.
Sheffield is a famous city, famous for it's steel, male strippers doing the Full Monty and an 80s band called Def Leppard. Despite being one of the leading cities in the U.K (and having the fifth largest population) it has seriously lagged behind other regional centers since the 1980s hurt it with a massive downturn in employment there. Only lately have things been changing.

The Development.
Recently Sheffield has seen the embryonic start of a property market similar to Manchester in the early 90s and companies are realising that thanks to low rents, superb transport system and cheap land prices there is money to be made there once more. The center of this is termed 'high-rise alley' that lies just off West Street.
With plans for a nearby 19 storey tower (now increased to 21) designed by Broadway Malayan on St Mary's Gate, and a 17 floor tower on the abandonded Mercedes garage across the road.
It was on this pivotal spot of Chesham House that the developers Manor Property Group decided to build a landmark as the center point of what will be the new retail quarter of Sheffield, a massive development of the surrounding area with the aim to rival Manchester as a successful example of inner-city living.

Project Details.
Chesham House was originally concieved as a 14 floor medium-rise back in 2002 and designed by Bond Bryan Architects. The developer however wasn't pleased with the small number of apartments, which totalled only 150, and looked to nearby West One and the seemingly insaitiable demand for such units in Sheffield, thinking that the sky was literally the limt.
It was this logic that saw Bond Bryan work on gradually increasing the the size the only way it could be, given the limted plot, by it getting taller.
By December 2002 design number 2 had been reached incorporating many more apartments and a wedge-like design similar to Ian Simpson's work in Manchester.
By February the project size had gone up again, with the height hitting 110m and 25 floors including plant ones, which is massive by Sheffield standards as can be seen from the massing images which feature this design.
The same design traits as design number 2 were still present, the cladding shows some of the advantages a wedge-shaped residential tower can provide such as more roof terraces and flats that are properly open to the outside.
With the increasing size of the wedge a number of design problems became apparent, the more pressing of which was fire regulations. The larger and taller the wedge got the further away some apartments were from fire escapes and so specially fire-proofed corridors had to be added which knocked the cost up.
Building a tall building adds cost for every meter of height you reach anyway so this with the necessary extra safety additions made the third design uneconomical with the budget coming in at just over £30 million.
The major problem was not so much these costs as the income compared to them which is less in Sheffield than cities such as Leeds per unit thanks to Sheffield's relatively low house prices and so the planning application that should have been filed in late February for this design never went ahead.
Faced with finding a new way to make the project cost effective a twin tower solution was reached, the taller tower which was residential would have none of the extra costs incurred thanks to fire regulations whilst the shorter building would provide office space for a client creating a mixed use scheme and alternative income for the developer that was still a landmark scheme.
The design this time was radically different to the wedges with an attempt to do something different. Anyone who has walked down West Street will see the samey architecture on new developments and this was an attempt to inject some variety and move away from the brick and glass that is commonly used.
Sadly the problem came up again that the project was simply too expensive and wouldn't provide the necessary return and the developer wanted it scaled down to 17 floors. It was at this point that it was put on hold where it remains today having come within a week of going ahead.

Interview.
SN.com spoke with the project designer Matt Bowker of Bond Bryan a little more about the site and the evolution of the towers through the planning process.
What was the original aim for the site and development?
The original brief called for a mixed use scheme providing 150 apartments and commercial premises, possibly a casino. Car parking was to be 1:1 ratio for residential with additional parking provided for the commercial aspect.
At what point in the project was it decided to switch the design to
something taller?
It was decided that it was a key location and that we should aim to design a landmark building on the site. However when we realized how much parking we needed to provide and that the first residential floors were going to be 8-10 stories above ground it was always going to be a tall building.
What were you aiming at with the first tall design?
The aim was to design a landmark tower that fulfilled all the criteria of the brief. The wedge shape was decided upon for several reasons and was a good solution for the particular site. The design afforded great views over the surrounding city and countryside, gradually rose higher in a series of steps along Charter Row towards the taller towers in the CBD (namely the 15 storey BT house and Grosvener Hotel) and provided a dramatic statement on the Sheffield skyline. Slowly but surely the number of apartments increased to almost 200 as did the height which reached a maximum of approx 110m.
What advantages did the tallest have over the shorter ones?
Apart from its landmark status, great views and contribution to the city skyline...very few. It was more inefficient as a building and less cost effective than either of the two alternative designs you have.
Why did you dump the wedge for a twin tower solution?
We tried to obtain greater value from the site by having a tall residential tower with 150 apartments and a shorter office tower with approx 36000 sq. ft. on a shared podium. This was a much more efficient and cost effective solution to build, would have yielded a greater return than the wedge as well as retaining the height, views and landmark status of the previous scheme.
Where did the inspiration for the designs come from?
A desire to get away from the brick, render and timber panelling that is so
comonplace throughout Sheffield and indeed the country for residential projects like this. We wanted to create a building that had an upmarket feel to it and stood out from the rest. We used exposed structural steel elements and a skyline feature to celebrate Sheffields long association with the steel industry in conjuntion with floor to ceiling glazing and terracotta rainscreen panels. The palette of materials was consistent throughout all the schemes we considered.
What are the plans for the future with the site and designs?
It's hard to say at the present time, possibly it could be incorporated into an overall masterplan that Broadway Malyan are preparing for the proposed retail quarter. The designs will be put on ice until such time that they might be required so its not completely dead but any development is a long way off.

Future Prospects.
Despite the positive aspects of the project the sum's didnt add up but that doesn't mean they won't in the future. In Leeds such a development would have turned more than half a million pounds profit on a thirty million investment as the developers could charge more for each residential unit however this doesn't mean that the project is dead. As property prices in the area continue to outstrip the national average the project becomes more profitable and ultimately likely to go ahead.
Planning documents seen by SN.com confirm that the council is supportive of such developments and is actively seeking a greater amount of apartments in the center of the city with developments such as this, and has no objections to the height of the buildings either as long as they are well planned.
Whether we see a twin tower on the Chesham House site like the final design remains to be seen but it seems likely something will eventually go there - afterall they are hardly going to leave a blank block in a masterplan.