Annual away day 2024

Last week we held our annual team away day with this year’s destination being Sheffield. Lucy Plumridge, Duncan Thomas and Anna Kiho from HLM Architects kindly kicked off our tour of the city showing and telling us the stories behind amazing buildings and places such as the Winter Gardens, Tudor Square, Kelham Island, Little Kelham and Coles Store.

A fantastic evening meal in the very unique and award-winning Chimney House rounded the fantastic day off with everyone looking forward to what the following day had in store for us.
Day two didn’t disappoint with a fascinating tour of the regenerated Park Hill. The tour was conducted by members of the Residents Association who took the time to show us the Brutalist, concrete icon, and the largest listed building in Europe that they call home.

Park Hill was originally built in 1961 with a utopian vision of creating a new community for families with its distinctive ‘streets in the sky’ – spaces and walkways outside each home that were wide enough for a milk float to do doorstep deliveries and where families congregated and life thrived. Fast forward 20 years and the fortunes of Park Hill echoed the social degradation of the city following the closure of most of the steel industry and became a no-go zone with the Council often unable to find tenants to fill the units. The building was Grade II* listed in 1998 and was sold to Urban Splash in 2004 for £1 and the first phase of regenerated apartments was opened in 2010. Phases 2 and 3 are also now complete including 356 student rooms. Work on phase 4 began this year and planning has been submitted for the fifth and final phase.