New Eco Tower for Sheffield

Sheffield's late surge into the Urban Renaissance continues with the submission of an outline application for another 100m plus tower.

The 137m, 27 floor Eco Tower, if approved, will stand on Spital Hill in S4, approximately half a mile away from the heart of the city centre.

The tower was designed for Cherry Tree Developments, by esteemed architects Swanke Hayden Connell Architects, who have worked on projects such as the Statue of Liberty restoration in New York. It is the first project proposed by Cherry Tree of such a size.

The tower will feature ground floor retailing space and three floors of Grade A office space above, something there is currently a serious shortage of in Sheffield. A number of floors will comprise adaptable office space that is designed to be sub-divisible, enabling smaller as well as larger firms to become occupants.

The top four floors of the project are planned to be residential, exploiting the higher property prices people are willing to pay for a room with a view. In Sheffield currently the margins are still fairly low on tall residential developments compared to the likes of Leeds and Manchester and it is only on the higher and more in demand floors that these start to compare favourably hence the location of apartments where they are.

The scheme is topped by a wind turbine inside a shell of stainless steel vent louvers with the efficiency enhanced by the shape of the building which will help contour the flow of the wind through it and maximise power generation. The majority of the tower will be clad in tinted glass with dressed grit-stone colonnade and applied rock faces to the lower floors. There will also be a nearby separate residential block.

The site is located adjacent to the site of the new inner ring road that is currently under construction. It is suitable for large-scale development as once the ring road is completed, existing roads between the site and the core of the city centre will be downgraded, improving the environment and desirability of the area.

A number of smaller developments such as Coode House, Riverside (residential) and Irwin Mitchell (office) have recently been built close by and although at first sight it appears to be an example of "lone tower syndrome", synonymous with the sixties, it is situated in an area that is fast improving and becoming a mid-rise cluster within Sheffield City Centre.

That it is the only really tall building in the area makes it bound to attract special criticism, particularly from locals, but the absence of conservation areas and the current run down feeling of the neighbourhood adds a special regenerative effect that can only stand the scheme in good stead as it progresses through the planning system.