First phase of £300 million ‘zero carbon’ Sheffield community goes to planning

The Leeds-based sustainable developer has submitted plans it teased earlier this year, to redevelop a 93,000m² brownfield site straddling the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal. 

If permitted, Attercliffe Waterside would become one of the largest zero carbon communities in the UK, featuring creative workspaces, an arts venue and retail space as well as housing.

Phase one of the scheme, worth £100 million, includes 447 new homes as well as the transformation of six existing buildings into a music venue and arts studios with bars and a bakery.

The wider project is worth an estimated £300 million, according to Citu, which signed a development deal with landowner Sheffield City Council in May.

The new homes are a mix of houses and flats, with architectural design led by Citu’s in-house design team.

The housing would be built with low-carbon materials using the developer’s own flexible timber-frame housing system previously interrogated by the AJ. It would sit on a podium above an undercroft car park on Effingham Road.

Source:CITU

Bridge approach from tow path and canalside park – sketch

If Sheffield City Council approves the scheme, on-site work will begin on the commercial elements this autumn, completing in 2024, while work on the homes will begin in 2025.

Chris Thompson, who founded Citu in 2004, said the company intends to ‘kickstart the regeneration of Sheffield’s East End’ by attracting ‘independent, creative, and spirited businesses’ to the ‘derelict and underused’ part of the city.

He added: ‘We’ve prioritised the leisure and commercial elements of the scheme first to put this area on the map as a place to visit and enjoy, and then when the homes are built, a place to live.

‘We’re not just building homes, we’re creating a new neighbourhood complete with its own identify, one that incorporates the heritage and beautiful waterside location of this place.

‘And underpinning this is our ambition to establish a low-carbon community that will enable future generations to live more sustainable lifestyles.’

Citu has previously completed low-carbon neighbourhoods in Sheffield’s Kelham Island, and a Climate Innovation District to the south of Leeds city centre.

Councillor Ben Miskell, chair of the Sheffield City Council’s transport, regeneration and climate policy committee, said that, if approved, Attercliffe Waterside would ‘provide much-needed homes for [Sheffield]’ and ‘complement ongoing Levelling Up and Transforming Cities projects set to rejuvenate the once thriving area’.