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Posts tagged ‘Sheffield’

20 years of Warp records (a very SoYo affair)

Monday, October 5th, 2009

The long gone, industrial haze that descended on the city of Sheffield for many decades provided not only the impetus to build high rise ’streets in the sky’, but also a proverbial shield from mainstream mediocrity. Independent artistic movements flourished.

The resulting impact on modern culture has influenced the worlds of architecture, design, film and music. The latter of which has one dominant Sheffield connection – the Warp record label. Born out of a converted cutlery shop in the Devonshire Quarter, it has sold millions of records worldwide.

Last weekend marked 20 years since Warp Records was born. An amazing chain of birthday events were chosen, held at locations synonymous with Sheffield - an industrial warehouse party, an open air cinema at Park Hill flats and a gargantuan rave in a converted steel mill.

Park Hill was perfect; its curving elevations provided an amphitheatre for a very atmospheric open air presentation of Warp films throughout the years. Its graphical references of Russian Constructivism in the early (Designers Republic) promotional material contrasting against the Brutalist backdrop.

Well attended by families, residents, scenesters and ravers from ‘back in t’day’ alike. Later in the evening the bar dried up and all scooted off to the next event.

What an amazing weekend party, now, can someone fill in the gaps in my memory?

If you missed the event but want to know what’s next at Park Hill, register your interest here.

Tags: Park Hill, Sheffield, warp records
Posted in Park Hill, Sheffield, Urban Splash | No comments »

A career in the spotlight at Park Hill, Sheffield

Monday, August 24th, 2009

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We’re currently on the hunt for a new QS to join our Yorkshire team, a great opportunity as the person in question will be working on Park Hill in Sheffield – the largest grade II* Listed building in Europe, and one of the most significant developments in post war Britain.

The building is key to the development and history of architecture - so much so that if you’re an architect it’s a compulsory study topic! It was inspired by the legendry Swiss-French Architect Le Corbusier but the current redevelopment has been designed by Studio Egret West, Hawkins Brown and Grant Associates.

Its status means that it attracts attention from all over the world, and in recent years our work in redeveloping Park Hill has been very much in the spotlight, with the BBC and local paper the Sheffield Star just two of the recent commentators on the scheme’s transformation (it’s also going to be on BBC2 on Monday 31st August!). So if you want exposure on a national level and huge career satisfaction this is the place to be.

We’re also really proud to be able to tell our story and continue the building’s development, something that’s been greatly helped by our relationships with public partners such as the Homes and Communities Agency. This means that we can move on and fulfil our plans of delivering almost 1000 new apartments for Sheffield over the next ten years – something that our new QS can play a major part in!

I spend a lot of my days working in Sheffield at the scheme and can honestly say that the building consumes you from the moment you arrive. Working here means that you’ll bore your nearest and dearest with every detail; no two days are ever the same.

So if you are a suitably qualified QS and want to join our team and make Park Hill happen then visit our Urban Splash jobs page. Have a look around the site too and you’ll see that our passion for listed buildings and this kind of architecture goes beyond Park Hill – we’re also working on the Grade I listed Royal William Yard in Plymouth (as link), the Grade II listed Lister Mills in Bradford and the Grade II Matchworks in Garston near Liverpool.

Tags: jobs, Park Hill, Sheffield
Posted in Leanne Forshaw, Park Hill, Sheffield, Urban Splash | 2 comments »

My take on BBCs Park Hill documentary by Tom Bloxham MBE

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

I came back from a bank holiday away to watch the Park Hill BBC2 “Romancing the Stone” documentary on iPlayer (I can’t believe I’ve started using the iPlayer, blogging and joining Twitter all in the same week – the 21st Century has finally has caught up with me!).

So what did I think..? No doubt it was good television. It certainly got a few laughs and raised the profile of Park Hill, giving the public a greater insight into what these projects involve! I’m not sure any of the protagonists came out particularly well – either from English Heritage or Urban Splash. And there was no mention of the people who really made this scheme happen, the HCA (maybe lucky for them!)

It’s disappointing that the programme stopped filming some weeks ago, before we finalised HCA funding and our development agreement, both of which have helped things really progress at Park Hill. It did, however, clearly illustrate the challenges and problems that beset a massive project like this. They’re never easy to deliver, even harder in today’s economic environment, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try!

Someone once told me that the definition of success is the difference between expectation and delivery… This Park Hill programme has undoubtedly done an excellent job for us in managing people’s expectations! More importantly though, it’s made me even more committed to ensuring that we deliver our vision for Park Hill.

There are plenty of sceptics about and although I’ve never made a TV programme, I think it’s probably easier to make a documentary than deliver a project like Park Hill. But we have already successfully completed several challenging schemes: Fort Dunlop in Birmingham, Royal William Yard in Plymouth, Lister Mills in Bradford, Chimney Pot Park in Salford, The Midland Hotel in Morecambe… given our track record I hope that the next Park hill documentary will be more positive.

Other reviews of the Park Hill programme can be found here: The Sheffield Star, BBC Look North, The Independent, The Sunday Times, The Guardian

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