Ghost streets in the sky

I'd been meaning to get up to Sheffield's Park Hill estate for a year or more, since first seeing the vast wall of hollowed-out flats while driving by Ponds Forge beneath. There wasn't any great rush - according to recent reports in the Sheffield Star, the project (estimated cost £160m) won't be complete till around 2017. It's three and a half years since I wrote about the plans here.

I had a free morning in Sheff last Friday, so popped over. I think it's the first time I'd actually been up close to the place - looming over the city like some demon fortress, it had a fearsome (and mostly undeserved) reputation when I was growing up in the city.



If it's still an unnerving place, it's an environment of eerie solitude rather than one of social threat, like stepping into the partially autopsied carcass of some sprawling municipal beast. Part has been stripped back to the concrete skeleton, secured behind high steel fencing; but the bulk has just been emptied and shuttered, and you're free to walk at will. All seemed deserted, although parts of the upper estate are still inhabited.



It's an interesting place to visit at the moment. I've doubts whether Urban Splash's grand plans will ever come to fruition, or whether this unique building will disappear from Sheffield's skyline. But the stripped frames of this first phase seem to hold a strange promise, of brutalism turned gothic, the bones of some monster waiting to be reborn.

Doctor King's houses of horror

I've just been reading, somewhat belatedly, Jonathan Coe's very enjoyable state-of-the-(1980s)-nation gothic satire 'What a Carve Up!'. In his author's note at the end of the book, Coe notes his 'shadowy debt' to the works of Frank King, author of 'The Ghoul' (1928), on which the 1960 movie (from which Coe took his title and elements of plot) was loosely based. Coe also says that he had been unable to trace any information on King, whose bibliography also includes such thrilling titles as 'Terror at Staups House', 'This Doll is Dangerous', 'Death of a Cloven Hoof' and 'Only Half the Doctor Died'.

This immediately tickled a memory. Last year, the Halifax Courier published this story, based on research by local historian David Glover, on the life of what it calls one of the town's famous yet perhaps forgotten sons. Frank King was indeed born in Halifax in 1892 - just a few streets away from my house, in fact - worked as a doctor in the town before quitting to write full-time (something rather appropriate to Coe's book), and died in 1958 just out at Norton Tower.

Intriguingly, King was likely to have been writing at his offices in Rhodes Street at the time the Halifax Slasher panic struck the immediate neighbourhood.

If anyone is in touch with Coe, please do let him know.

Bradford, city of film

Congratulations to Bradford for being named as the first Unesco City of Film. It's been a while coming (the bidding started back when I was writing for Yorkshire Insider regularly, if I remember right), and it might be hard to entirely grasp the logic of it, but good for them.

The city's proud Telegraph & Argus has a solid write-up (with some hilariously fruitbat comments), and the same paper's David Barnett bigs it up further in a Guardian blog.

I was going to link to the wonderful 'Every sperm is sacred' section of Monty Python's the Meaning of Life here, which I always thought was filmed in Bradford, but a bit of research finds that it was actually mostly filmed over in Colne...

Proper wuthering

Lovely piece from Martin Wainwright in the the walks supplement with today's Guardian, in which he rhapsodises about the wuthering beauty of Ogden Water and Ovenden Moor, wind farm and all, just north of Halifax (described, rather curiously, as a 'market town' - while there is a great indoor market, I'd say it's still a classic mill town).

There's also directions for the walk, which I've been round a few times myself.

Crisp news

The Business Desk brings good news combining two of my abiding interests - Yorkshireness and savoury snacks.
Yorkshire Crisps, based in Wales (the one just the other side of Sheffield, that is), has won a distribution deal with Sainsburys. Best of all, the deal includes their new Henderson's Yorkshire Sauce flavour, based on that immortal relish brewed just across the street from where I was born. I had a pack yesterday, and they're very tasty indeed. A fair bit classier than Seabrook's, they're probably better suited to munching with a glass of chilled wine from Leventhorpe than with the traditional pint. Mmm.

White out

Bit snowy round our way today.

The Road to Huddersfield

Sometimes, a good poke around a secondhand bookshop will turn up something that just leaps off the shelf at you. So it was with 'The Road to Huddersfield: A Journey to Five Continents'. A book commissioned by the World Bank from Guardian journalist James (later Jan) Morris in the early 1960s, with a delightfully Yorkshire-centric title - what's not to like?

Huddersfield here is posited as the exemplar of industrialised society, the epitome of 20th century civilisation, the very birthplace of the modern world, whose 'horny, stocky, taciturn people were the first to live by chemical energies, by steam, cogs, iron and engine grease, and the first in modern times to demonstrate the dynamism of the human condition'. Aye, that's right enough.

The assigned task of the World Bank was then (and, more or less, is now) to help those less advanced nations advance along the titular road to Huddersfield - to fund those infrastructure projects which, according to theory, will speed those economies towards the wealth and freedom from want of industrial society, that very state of Huddersfieldness.

After a visit to the World Bank HQ, under the idiosyncratic rule of Eugene Black, Morris travels through some of the recipients of the Bank's aid - Ethiopia, Siam, southern Italy, Colombia, and the Indian-Pakistani borders - in an elegant and picturesque odyssey. Given that the book was commissioned by the Bank, Morris stays remarkably ambiguous about the effects and efficacy of its work - a lot kinder than many of its latter-day (or even contemporary) critics, but no apologist for its occasional incompetence or amorality.

Some 45 years on, some of the descriptions of the countries visited strike a little odd. 'Nobody is starving' in Ethopia, though that country 'is still a long, long way from Huddersfield'. Further East, 'it is no coincidence that Burma, that gilded stronghold of Buddhism, is perhaps the only country on earth that shows no eagerness at all to take the Huddersfield Road." On the other hand, the chapter detailing political and ethnic tensions in the Indus basin seems ever relevant - though some might see a certain irony as Morris notes of Pakistan, 'never did a country seem to need her Huddersfield more.'

It all makes for an intriguing slice of political and economic history. Although it seems slightly unfair that the book's thin section of photographic plates does not show the titular Yorkshire town, but rather its neighbour Halifax - a view from Beacon Hill of a near-unrecognisable forest of belching chimneys. Were it not for the dark satanic smog, now long gone, you might just see my house from there.

Bish bash HBOS

A worrying time for my home town of Halifax, with a significant number of local jobs sure to disappear in the wake of Lloyds' white knight takeover of HBOS. Exact numbers have yet to be announced, but I'd guess at least a thousand in the town - maybe more.

Lloyds has said that preserving jobs in Scotland will be a priority - job losses there were also small when the Halifax acquired the Bank of Scotland back in 2001, with most of the limited cutting then done at lower levels, and Edinburgh also had the honour of hosting the head office at the BoS's historic HQ on the Mound. So saving jobs there seems fair enough - the Guardian reports that the group has 6,459 employees in Edinburgh, a fairly significant chunk of well-paid employment in a city of 450,000.

But what's worrying is that nothing's been said about jobs in the Halifax' eponymous home. HBOS also employs around 6,500 in and around Halifax - and this is a town of just 90,000, with far fewer other major industries than the Scottish capital.

There are obvious political motives for favouring Scotland, which will put Labour into even more disfavour locally. Fair enough, most will say.

But the potential economic impact on the town and the surrounding area is likely to be terrible. The presence of the bank here - its head office until the BoS takeover and, after, the base of the expanded retail operations - has been the main factor in protecting the town from the worst of the industrial decline and saved it from being quite as bad as, say, Burnley. Any major reduction of HBOS employment would, alongside the general downturn, easily make it as bad as, say, Barnsley when the mines were closed. Not a happy prospect.

It might not be that bad, of course. There's inevitably going to be swingeing cuts at the common operations of the two merged groups, but it's a question of deciding how that's going to be split between Lloyds and HBOS. I'm less familiar with Lloyds' operations, but I'd guess the bulk of their operations are in London. It might then be an attractive option for them to cut jobs in that more expensive employment market, and keep them in the more cost-effective West Riding.

But even if that happens, I'd guess that in Halifax they'll be cutting from the top; and in London, from the bottom. Fewer well-paid, professional jobs here in finance, IT, management and so forth, but we'll likely still get the minimum-wage call centre and data input end. Not a great deal.

More generally, it's been fun to see the scrabbling for scapegoats to blame for the deeply shite state of the banking markets, and the faux outrage over the antics of the short-sellers and speculators who we are shocked (shocked!) to find are inclined towards amoral profit-seeking based on some rather unrealistic financial models. At least, I hope it's faux - surely no one who's been keeping the vaguest of eyes on the financial markets and the economic orthodoxy can honestly be remotely surprised?

As per the title of this blog (borrowed from Galbraith, of course), it looks like reality has caught up with its would-be escapees.

The Invention of Yorkshireness

Congratulations to William Marshall, curmudgeonly columnist on the Halifax Evening Courier, on securing a grant to research a topic close to my heart - 'The Invention of Yorkshireness: Yorkshire cultural identities 1850-1914'.

The Yorkshire Post quotes Marshall on that noble creed 'See all, hear all, say nowt; eat all, drink all, pay nowt' -
"It's interesting to discover the ways in which Yorkshire people have come to define themselves like this.
"One area of source material I've been looking at is picture postcards from the early 1900s. There's a series of "Yorkshire Sayings" which depict pot-bellied farmers dispensing such advice as a mother telling her daughter to only marry for money or a father telling his son never to do anything for 'nowt'.
"The thing is, these stereotypes actually seem to have been taken up by Yorkshire people themselves.
"They seemed to relish this idea of being quite stubborn and selfish – many of these postcards were bought by Yorkshire-folk and sent to other people within the county, so this negative self-image was not only acceptable to them but perpetuated by them."

More in the Courier itself, although that paper does show some distressing regional stereotyping in its headline: Our William is given an 'Ey oop' award.

On a related subject, I'm quite pleased with this panoramic pic I did of Halifax as seen from Beacon Hill -

Click through for full-size, to admire the town's geographic and architectural glories - given the financial news of the past few days, it could be a last chance to see the HBOS head office before they put the shutters up...

Tinsley towers no more

The end of an era last night, as the twin cooling towers by Tinsley viaduct in Sheffield were (mostly) brought down at the suitably ungodly hour of 3am. The BBC has film of the demolition, while my Flickr chum Wsogmm has the best photo I've seen so far.

So what now? The hopes for some iconic piece of public art for the site seem to have come to nowt. Site owners E.On have said they'll sponsor some art on the theme of 'energy', but not necessarily at Tinsley. Plans for a biomass power plant for the site are still go, as far as I know.

In the meantime, the landscape's got that little bit less interesting.

Broken blades

Regular readers will know about the long and thorny saga behind the new wind turbines at the University of Sheffield's Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre. The two turbines have been up for a couple of months now, and have become something of a landmark on the M1 and Sheffield Parkway.

Regular commuters might have noticed something a little different this morning, however.


One of the turbines suffered damage to both blades during yesterday's 'rare summer gales'. As is now rather obvious, one broke clean off.

From the AMRC statement:
One of the AMRC's wind turbines suffered a failure dring the extreme weather conditions this evening.
Prior to the blade failure, engineers were on site monitoring the situation and ensuring the safety of workers and the general public. Police were informed and diverted traffic.
An investigation is now underway by the manufacturers - Wind Energy Solutions (www.windenergysolutions.nl) - any enquiries should be directed to them.



On the face of it, it's not the best advert for the centre's high-tech materials and engineering expertise. But the turbines were bought in as complete units, so its hardly the ARMC's fault. Although really, that shouldn't happen to what is now a pretty well established technology...

Top ten mills

Great piece in the Guardian - West Yorkshire's top ten mill conversions.

Salt's over Dean Clough? That'll cause ruptions...

Grounded

The Sheffield Star marks what is probably the last flight from the city's airport, with a look back at its troubled history.

Meanwhile, steel boss Andrew Cook has stepped up as the erstwhile mystery backer of the save-the-airport lobby (Sheffield City Airport Movement, aka SCAM), which is still chasing the legal route:
They are then hoping for a full court hearing to consider whether owner Peel Airports and Sheffield Council abided by conditions which stated the airport - which opened in 1997 - had to be kept operational for 10 years and "all reasonable efforts" had to be made to attract airlines.
Mr Cook said: "The reason I am doing this is because I think it borders on madness for a city the size of Sheffield to give up its airport without a fight.
"I think it is an abomination that something that should be regarded as a valuable municipal facility should be thrown away."

Sheffield malarkey latest

Updates on a couple of long-running Sheffield development stories -

Alexandra Topping reports in the Guardian on the doomed battle to preserve the Tinsley towers, or at least to erect some meaningful public art in their place:
The Tinsley cooling towers - bleak, elegant, real - are often the first and last thing people see as they enter and leave the city. But soon, like Sheffield's industrial golden age, they will be consigned to history, demolished to make way for a new power station. [Tom James of the Go magazine] reflects: "Imagine, when the towers are gone, Meadowhall will be the only thing you'll be able to see from the tram and the M1. How depressing."

And I hear there's much discontent, in some fairly high-up places, about the Peel Group's controversial purchase and closure of Sheffield City Airport. While it's probably too late for Sheffield, the group's finding its proposed plans elsewhere are undergoing a bit more scrutiny than they're used to. Not much substantiated at the moment, but could be worth looking into...

Pace Egg play

On Friday (Good Friday, that is), we took ourselves up to Heptonstall for the first of the day's performances of the Pace Egg Play. The play's been traced back to the 1500s or so, but the obvious pagan roots suggest rather older roots. The current version has just been running since 1979 but, as this BBC story from last year relates, it's as close to the old play as possible given the effects of time and memory.

It's a rollicking performance, anyway. Many of the towns and villages on both sides of the Pennines have their own version, performed at Easter or new year, but Heptonstall's is reckoned to be one of the best in the 'combat' mode of the play.

More pics of the action over on my Flickr page.

(Apologies for the lack of recent action on this blog, by the way - I've been tied up recently on a contract with the Environment Agency, but the (un)usual service should be resumed soonish.)

Airport Peeled, discarded

Today's Sheffield Star brings the hardly unexpected confirmation that the city's airport is to close, due to 'sustained losses' incurred after owner Peel Airport's decision to pretty much close it down anyway. This appears to demonstrate that the site is not commercially viable, allowing Peel to snap up the land and facilities for a quid (estimated value, according to sources quoted in the Star: £440m).

As previously noted, Peel used the proximity of the airport to block the construction of a 90m wind turbine alongside the Factory of the Future building on the nearby Advanced Manufacturing Park (the FoF, now just about ready for occupancy, instead settled on two 56m turbines, awaiting erection). Peel has subsequently announced plans to install showpiece turbines at its Liverpool airport:
The wind turbines will potentially, along with other renewable energy sources, play an important part in the airport's future development. This trial will hopefully demonstrate that turbines can be sited at an operational airport and that others can follow suit.
Funny, that.

Balls for Tinsley

Yesterday's 150th anniversary of the world's first football club links inevitably to another Sheffield obsession - how to replace those much-loved Tinsley towers.
This thing pictured here (image copyright unknown) is, according to the Star, the proposal from local MP Richard Caborn. Got to say, think I preferred the winning design from the actual RIBA competition.

Football, another Sheffield invention

I'm not much of one for football, but the 150th anniversary of Sheffield FC can't be ignored. The world's first football club, Sheffield basically set the rules for the FA and created the modern globalised game. That the beautiful game was made in Sheffield is probably the one footballing fact that both Blades and Owls have ever agreed on.

And personally, I'm very glad to settle one question I've always wondered about - if they were the first team, who did they play against?
Members organised themselves into teams for matches such as Married Men versus Unmarried Men, and Professional Occupations versus The Rest, apparently.

The anniversary celebrations also mean that the club's current fixtures list reads a little differently:
Grantham Town
Spalding United
Stocksbridge Park Steels
Inter Milan FC
Carlton Town

Halifax's knockout Nobel

Congratulations to Oliver Smithies, joint winner of this year's Nobel Prize in medicine. Along with Mario Capecchi and Martin Evans, Smithies wins the prize for helping develop the 'knockout' technique for using embryonic stem cells in genetic modification - a technique that remains rather controversial in some areas.

Science and controversy aside, the (entirely parochial) interest here is that Smithies was born here in Halifax, and educated at the former Heath Grammar School just down the hill from me. That makes him, as far as I can tell, Halifax's first Nobel Laureate. Not the first for Calderdale though - Todmorden has John Cockcroft (Physics, 1951) and Geoffrey Wilkinson (Chemistry, 1973) to its credit. Not too bad for a small Pennine borough that doesn't even have a university.

M62 diversion

Liverpudlian vicar John Davies is a man on an epic journey across an everyday landscape - he's walking the M62. A couple of years ago, I got in touch with John after he blogged about my Halifax Slasher article in Strange Attractor Journal.

This Saturday, John stopped off in Halifax and I gave him the tour of the town, taking in the sights - the Wainhouse tower, the gibbet, Dean Clough, the bridges, etc - as well as the sites of some of the most notable Slasher attacks (or, rather, 'attacks' - read the article, or this brief introduction). John's written about it here. And now I'm writing about it here.

The virtual world of blogging might often be a self-obsessed and insular one, but it can help you meet new friends and even, just occasionally, get you out into the fresh air.

Manshead bunker

Another moor-top oddity - the WWII bunker on the northern descent of Great Manshead, above Ripponden, close to a crook in the Calderdale Way. According to John Manning's 25 Walks in the South Pennines:
A handful of men stationed here lit up the hillside during German bombing raids, in the hope that the pilots would mistake the lights for nearby Halifax and drop their deadly cargoes harmlessly onto the moor; a nerve-racking posting.
It's easy enough to get in, and apparently popular - past the square blast wall, the low central passage leads to two rooms, each with a few years' worth of bottles and cans trodden into the mud. It's a relief to get out again.

Ghost towers of Tinsley

This is the winning design, by Newcastle-based Insite Environments (and presumably copyright to them), in the previously mentioned competition to design a replacement for the doomed Tinsley Towers.

According to competition organisers Groundwork Sheffield:
First placed ‘Insite' chose to include beautiful new towers with a steel lattice frame to mirror the natural, organic forms that have reclaimed the site; towers that are to be of a similar scale and proximity to the Tinsley Viaduct as those existing. Second placed ‘DLA' combined the theme of renewable energy generation with huge hydroponic towers housing research areas for growing bio fuels, whilst third placed ‘Astudio' enhanced their mixed use scheme with a retained cooling tower whose exterior would "bristle" with balcony-like pod structures.

I like the design, a suitably steely ghost of the original landmark towers that, for many regular M1 travellers, serve as the gateposts of the North. Obviously it's far from definite whether they'll actually materialise alongside Eon's proposed biomass plant, but the signs seem good. Meanwhile, the old towers, according to the Star, are likely to come down one early Sunday morning as soon as September.

A change in the wind

Are two middling-sized wind turbines less intrusive than one large one? Apparently so. The new 'Factory of the Future' development at the Advanced Manufacturing Park on the Sheffield/Rotherham border, has secured planning permission for two 56 metre turbines. That should help the development achieve its aim of being the UK's first totally carbon neutral factory building.

As previously noted, the original plan was for a single turbine of around 90 metre. Peel Airports, part-owners of the former Sheffield City Airport nearby, objected to this on the grounds that it could potentially endanger aircraft (extremely low-flying aircraft, that is) heading towards the airport - a curious objection, given that Peel has been busy closing the airport down to redevelop as a business park. Other objections were scarecely less ludicrous - another AMP tenant apparently complained that the turbines would be distracting to its own staff when they ate their butties outside.

The AMP happily avoided serious damage during the recent floods in South Yorkshire (despite Catcliffe, the nearest village, being swamped), thanks to being on the slightly higher ground of the former Orgreave colliery. As climate change is likely to make such extreme weather events more common, one hopes that even Peel Airports can begin to see the point of carbon-neutral development.

Meanwhile, here's a CNN report on the Factory of the Future and the work of the Advanced Manufacturing Reseach Centre, focusing on their work with Boeing. The commentary seems a bit Sesame Street to local ears ("On the site of this nasty coal strike..."), but it's a decent overview of what's going on.

Tinsley greens

News in the continuing saga of the Tinsley towers - landowner Eon has unveiled plans for a new 'green' power station on the site of the old Blackburn Meadows station. According to the Star:
The firm is to submit a planning application to Sheffield Council later this year to build the £55 million biomass plant, one of the first in the country, which would produce enough power for 40,000 homes and be 'carbon neutral'.
It would burn recycled wood and specially-grown crops such as willow and elephant grass.

A pretty welcome development, even if it does mean the demolition of the iconic towers which are, apparently, not suitable for incorporation in the proposed station. But what of art?
The company also announced that it has put aside "a substantial sum" for a landmark piece of artwork to stand somewhere in the city[...]
Derek Parkin, managing director of business services at E.ON UK, said: "We'll hopefully be able to bring the Blackburn Meadows site back into use and also to create a landmark piece of artwork somewhere in the city that local people can have input into."
"Our only caveat is that the artwork has to have energy as its theme," added Derek. "Apart from that, the sky's the limit."

Low AMPage

Official word on another addition to the Advanced Manufacturing Park on the Sheffield-Rotherham borders, and another sign of an increasing appetite for all things cleantech -
Yorkshire Forward has announced plans to begin construction of its £8.7 million incubator building to support businesses entering the emerging low carbon energy technologies market.
The Environmental Energy Technology Centre (EETC), to be built on land adjoining the Innovation Technology Centre on the Advanced Manufacturing Park, with investment from the European Regional Development Fund, and will support more than 30 enterprises engaged in the development of products that will aid the transition to a low carbon energy economy. Work is expected to start on site in the next month, and be completed by Autumn 2008.
Companies located in the building will be able to tap into the expertise in cutting edge manufacturing techniques and other technologies that exist within the Advanced Manufacturing Park. The EETC is also planned to be the home of the Dti’s Environmental Technology Institute (ETI) should the University of Sheffield’s bid for the ETI be successful later this year.

All good stuff, but hardly a great leap forward for the AMP. As noted in this feature I wrote in 2003, the AMP aimed to attract £650 million of investment from private and public sources by 2007. That hasn't happened. It's got the hub of research centres, and already has a small business centre (sorry, 'innovation technology centre') backed by public money. But the big private sector investment that the AMP was meant to attract is still conspicuous by its absence. Informal word says that's not entirely due to lack of inquiries, but perhaps more to do with issues with the scheme's handlers at Yorkshire Forward. One awaits news to the contrary.

Brown towns

Big Gordon puts sustainable regional development at the centre of his policy menu (presumably designed to help distance him from the less popular aspects of Blairism), with proposals for five new 'eco-towns' to be built on brownfield sites around the country.

It's a headline-grabbing initiative, combining leftish/green sustainability with property-owning rhetoric for Middle England. There's no doubt that more new homes are needed, and brownfield redevelopment is the only way to go, but one wonders if the initiative will include anything that wouldn't be happening anyway.

The first (and so far only) named site is an ex-MoD base at Oakington in Cambridgeshire, which was bought by English Partnerships for a 'sustainable' 10,000-home development last year. I'd be surprised if none of the schemes in the former South Yorkshire coalfields aren't swiftly adapted to join the programme, if it happens - maybe the housing development alongside the Advanced Manufacturing Park on the 750-acre Waverley site on the Sheffield/Rotherham borders, again headed by English Partnerships.

Might even consider moving for that. It'd make the dear lady wife's commute a lot shorter and, if the concept does catch on, there's surely a book to be written about the development of and life in a shiny green Brown town.

Of towers and falcons

Latest development in the Tinsley towers saga - reports of protected peregrine falcons nesting on the concrete structures. The Sheffield Star reports:
The birds could also be a saviour for the controversial cooling towers which are due to be demolished later this year.
[RSPB spokesman Margaret Overend] said: "While the nest is in use – when it is being built or being used by the birds – the demolition could not take place.
"The protection clause states that you cannot damage a nest or nesting site and the offence carries a very heavy penalty.
"However, once nesting season is over and the birds have moved on there is nothing to stop the demolition going ahead."
An E.ON spokesman said: "We sent steeplejacks up to inspect the top of both cooling towers late last year and found no evidence of the birds nesting there."

Shades of a similar situation here in Halifax last year, when restoration work on the church spire overlooking the Piece Hall was put on hold after suspected peregrines were seen nesting there. They turned out to be non-protected kestrels, but falcons have again been seen there (BBC Look North report here). One suspects they can't be that rare after all...

Tinsley tower competition

Sustainable development group Groundword Sheffield has announced an architectural competition for plans to redevelop the land around the previously discussed Tinsley towers -

Competition entrants are required to produce a Masterplan for the site, with proposals for use, development and access. Design ideas for buildings should be included where appropriate, as well as landscape design ideas for the riverside area of the site. The competition will follow an Open Ideas format and is being organised on behalf of Groundwork Sheffield by The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).
The landscape is currently dominated by a two-tier motorway viaduct and the disused Cooling Towers - the last vestige of the power station previously located on the site. The Cooling Towers were recently selected for Channel 4's Big Art Project, and the intention would be to reuse them as a public artwork. However, due to their ongoing maintenance liability, the landowner's preferred option is demolition. For the purposes of this competition, the decision whether to demolish or reuse the towers is at the discretion of competition entrant.

So is there still hope for the landmark towers? We'll see.

What we made with our hands and our hearts

A mural of unknown origin, adorning a disused railway tunnel ventilation shaft on Dead Edge, above Dunford Bridge, to the south of Holmfirth.

Because iLiKETRAiNS have a new single out today.

Inner city pressure

Interesting story in the Yorkshire Post about concerns in Sheffield over the knock-on effects of the boom in city centre residential development. Big 'urban living' developments have mushroomed across the city centre, and continue to do so, with the number of city centre residents reportedly increasing by 250% in the past four years. Over half of the city centre flats are owned by private landlords.

There are now fears that the situation could have adverse effects on Sheffield's housing market, as speculators help to push up prices and the council's own waiting list for rented property continues to grow.
As a result, councillors have ordered a detailed report into the market changes, where most new apartments are beyond the reach of those with an income below £40,000.
Some councillors are concerned that the housing market has priced many young people out of ownership and created accommodation which may be under-occupied in many cases.
Despite those concerns, statistics produced by council officials suggest only seven per cent of rented apartments are empty at any one time.
The figure is a stark contrast with Leeds, which underwent a similar boom in city living, where the rate is about 40 per cent.

It's hard to see this situation as sustainable - and not just because of the effects on the city's broader housing market. With an over-supply of rented flats, rental yields have already fallen to marginal rates. Private owners (the vast majority of whom are presumably speculative investors) must then rely on continued rises in the capital price for their returns. With a 'correction' in the housing market long overdue, a lot of purchasers are going to find themselves at a loss - with a strong likelihood of a large portion of the stock going on the market at a depressed price. While that might be good news for the housing associations who need to expand their stock, it's probably not for the longer-term prospects for these huge housing schemes. The glamorous urban living apartments of today are likely to be the high-rise hellholes of tomorrow.

Brass numbers

Some peculiar spin on a new Barclays "white paper" on the national distribution of the wealthiest individuals. The document notes:
We can also examine wealth on an aggregated county level, which again shows that London reigns supreme as the hub of the UK’s wealth. However, the list of the top 10 counties still presents a couple of surprises, including Yorkshire where people are better known for taking caution with their money.

Newspaper reports tended to follow that line, with the Yorkshire Post, for example, reckoning:
areas traditionally seen as less affluent have also made it into the map's top 10, with Yorkshire in third place at 6.1 per cent and Lancashire in sixth (3.8 per cent) behind home counties Surrey (5.8 per cent) and Middlesex (4.8 per cent).

While the Guardian today asks:
Why is Yorkshire so wealthy?
There is a branch of Greggs the bakers at Leeds-Bradford airport. The very presence of competitively priced sandwiches and pies in the vicinity of international flights carries a powerful subtext: "Four-quid sarnies and little boxes of sushi may be all right for them flash buggers flying from Manchester, but here in Yorkshire we like to look after our brass."
...
Ask any of the paupers in Surrey, Middlesex and Lancashire, lorded over by Yorkshire in the wealth league table, and they will undoubtedly say it is because Yorkshire people never spend any of the damn stuff.

Such stereotyped comment may or may not be entirely fair (I'll keep my penn'orth on that safe in my pocket), but the Barclays statistics hardly require such ponderings. Yorkshire is a big bloody county - in all, about 5 million people, 8.3% of the total UK population, about the same as Scotland. With just 6.1% of the "country's wealthiest people", we're actually punching below our weight in rich buggers. Not so much of a story there, really.

The real question isn't so much "Why is Yorkshire so wealthy?", but 'Why do the critical faculties of so many journalists fall apart when faced with some basic statistics?"

Heart of the city

When you've written lots of features on the countless grand projects, plans and proposals that fall under the urban and regional regeneration banners, it's interesting to actually experience the ones that make it off the masterplan and into concrete reality. So it is with Sheffield's 'Heart of the City' project (discussed, in its earlier stages, here and here - there's also an uncritical update by the current Yorkshire Business Insider team in this month's issue).

The new Barcelona-style Peace Gardens and the enclosed Winter Garden are now well established as a feature of Sheffield life. They're great public spaces. Unfortunately, some of the surrounding development seems a little less successful.

The St Paul's Place office block occupied by lawyers DLA can hardly be described, as Sheffield regen supremo Alison Nimmo did back in 2003, as "the best office building Sheffield has ever seen". It's a bit of an eyesore, frankly - arguably less attractive than the old eggbox town hall (so memorably destroyed in Threads) which it partly replaces. I recall Paul Firth, then DLA's top man in Sheffield, saying it'd be a landmark building to match Prince's Exchange in Leeds, which DLA features heavily in its own marketing in the region. Ah well.

The other big addition is the four-star Macdonald hotel, occupying the space between the Peace and Winter Gardens. We stayed there Friday night, the first time I'd been in since its completion. Ironically enough for the city without an airport, it's all very redolent of an airport hotel - JG Ballard, who has rhapsodised about the affectless beauty of the Heathrow Hilton, would love it. It's a little bit of Singapore in Sheffield - except it all falls rather short of Singaporean standards in the efficiency stakes. Lots of little things - the toilet not flushing, rubbish left in the room, cocktails made wrongly, a severely under-staffed reception - made our stay less than entirely satisfying. Still, it preserves the honorable Sheffield tradition of aiming for great things but not quite getting it right.

The reason we were staying over in Sheff was to see the ever lovely Jarvis Cocker in concert. His little chats between the songs were as charming as ever, with many concerning the disappearing bits of his old home town, from Castle Market to the Brincliffe Oaks. The gig finished with a ramshackle cover of the Human League's 'Being Boiled'. That, I reckon, is close to the real heart of the city.

Summer Wine

This is Leventhorpe, England's most northerly vineyard (for now), located on the top side of Leeds. Obviously it wasn't looking its best when I visited it on a blustery January morning, but the rather better established vineyards of Baden-Württemberg weren't looking exactly verdant when I visited before christmas either.
Leventhorpe is the work of this man, former industrial chemist and teacher George Bowden. His story's told here, in a piece in the Telegraph last year, and here at Sugarvine.com. He's a tremendously enthusiastic and knowledgeable chap, happy to talk at length about the subtleties of viniculture in a challenging climate.
It's hardly one of the great chateaus, with just six acres of vines and production based in a breezeblock shed at the bottom of the field. But they are producing very good stuff indeed. Leventhorpe wines have won a string of awards and competitions (not just against other English wines), and plaudits from folk like Oz Clarke and Rick Stein. Bowden's also managed to win official Yorkshire Regional Wine appellation status for his excellent Seyval Blanc.
After an extensive round of tasting alongside the grape press and tanks of developing vintage, we took home half a dozen assorted bottles, including one of their well-regarded sparkling (though not their rather idiosyncratic and very limited quantity red Triomphe). They're on the rack waiting for sunnier weather to make the most of their full, crisp flavours.

Thanks to Richard Jones for organising the visit.

Non-fab prefab

Not a great advert for affordable sustainable urban development - the troubled Caspar housing development in Leeds is to be demolished before it falls apart in the high winds not unknown in West Yorkshire.

The Yorkshire Evening Post this week reports:
Developer LifeHomes has bought the distinctive crescent-shaped, five-storey block of pre-fabricated flats in North Street, Leeds, and intends to completely redevelop the site.
The £3m CASPAR (City Centre Apartments for Single People at Affordable Rents) scheme was built seven years ago by Japanese construction firm Kajima.
It was hailed as revolutionary, both in terms of the high-speed advanced pre-fabrication building techniques used and in providing a blueprint for encouraging middle-income singles and couples to live in city centre.
But problems emerged in 2005 when consultants advised that the flats were potentially unsafe in high winds. The residents were moved out early in 2006 and the 46 flats have stood empty ever since.

An earlier story in the Guardian, following the evacuation, noted:
[Lord Richard Best, director of the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust] said that the decision had serious implications for the sort of innovative building hailed by Mr Prescott, the deputy prime minister, at an exhibition of new construction techniques earlier this year.
Mr Prescott said that there had been too much prejudice against modern construction methods because of the failure of system-built tower blocks. "You just have to look round this exhibition to see how much off-site construction has improved in terms of quality and reliability," he said.
...
Lord Best said: "Caspar's form of construction was very much at the cutting edge of new techniques and the results have been very disappointing indeed."
The Kajima system was "wonderful" but required precision in assembly and care of the pre-built units - an area which Arup will now survey in more detail.

As I noted in this 2001 YBI feature on architecture and regional regeneration, the scheme won a RIBA award for its design. And while the prefab construction technique is still a promising one, and the social aims of the scheme were laudable, it's deeply sad that it's all been let down by fundamentally crappy construction. Even on a low-cost project, that's unforgiveable.

Currying favour

Today's Yorkshire Post features a new business that should gladden any gourmand with the misfortune to live too far from Bradford -
Realbradfordcurry.com will take orders from anywhere in mainland Britain and deliver the freshly cooked food within 48 hours.
The venture has been launched by Bradford businesswoman Jan Smithies and Richard Richardson, who helped to develop the Harry Ramsden brand.
The pair have worked with a team of chefs, restaurants and home cooks from the city to develop a menu of curries.
Ms Smithies said: "Bradford has a well-deserved national reputation for being the home of fantastic South Asian food.
[...]
"I became increasingly aware that a Bradford curry was unique to Yorkshire and something that had a wide appeal outside the county. Two of our first orders have been from the far reaches of Cornwall and Scotland."

Obviously it won't be much use when you've got the late munchies, seems a good idea for special occasions, particularly for Yorkshire ex-pats. And it's great to see the Bradford branding being used in such a positive way. Get your orders in here.

Airport terminated

The Sheffield Star today reports the hardly unexpected news that Sheffield City Airport is indeed to be closed and turned into a business park:
Sheffield Council's City Centre, South and East Planning and Highways Area Board banged the final nail into the ill-fated airport's coffin when it approved a plan for offices and light industry to be built on the site.
Sheffield is now the biggest major city in Europe without its own airport.
The redevelopment plan effectively brings to an end any lingering chance that the facility could be revived. Under the plan most of the runway will be dug up and the airport's hangars will have to be taken down in the next few months.

A nice deal for majority shareholders Peel Holdings then, whose airport at Finningley should pick up what little business Sheffield City had, while making a tidy return on the new park which should be the largest of its kind in the region (with development supported by European Objective One money, of course). Who would have expected such a result when Peel took over Sheffield City back in 2001? OK, pretty much everyone...

Wonder if they'll bother to retract their previously-noted objections to the proposed wind turbine at the nearby Advanced Manufacturing Park?

Arts Tower

The Arts Tower at the University of Sheffield, a modernist landmark inspired by Mies van der Rohe's Seagram building in New York.
Photo taken mainly because I was trying out a new lens - Canon 50mm f1.4 - which is proving to be a rather nice bit of kit.

Betts off for urban economies

The Star also reports on Sheffield MP Clive Betts' response to a new report from the government's Communities and Local Government quango:
Academics say despite massive amounts of public funding to improve business, productivity and earnings in the north, it has only managed to make things worse.
They said no city north of Derby has an economy that is performing better than the national average, according to the report which was commissioned by the Government.
And Sheffield is in the bottom five places when it comes to recording new patents - a measure of inventions and breakthroughs in industry.
But Sheffield Attercliffe MP Clive Betts rejected the report and said business was booming.
"Go around Sheffield and look at the new private sector investment going on. There's new businesses in the Lower Don Valley, new residential accommodation in the city centre and the New Retail Quarter which are massive private investments.
"Look at companies in my constituency such as Forge Masters, which has taken on 42 new apprentices and expansions at the business park at the airport," he added.

Can't help feeling that Betts is being a wee bit daft. Wonder if he's actually read the report, 'The Competitive Economic Performance of English Cities' (downloadable here)?

(Actually, I doubt the Star journalist read it, as all the factoids are recycled from a typically idiosyncratic story in Daily Mail. By 'idiosyncratic', I mean either massively dishonest or stupid. The Mail says:
The damning report - commissioned by the Government - suggests public spending at levels once associated with the Soviet bloc have done more harm than good. It told ministers: "The overt policies followed so far and the unintended consequences of others have either failed to close this gap or actually made it worse"
which omits the crucial qualifier from the report for many decades - ie, the problem long predates the current Labour government, contrary to the Mail's implication. The problem is lack of investment, particularly from the private sector, not too much public investment. Utter bullshit from the Mail, and sloppy idle journalism from the Star.)

The report itself is a solid investigation into various aspects of city and regional economic development, with a wealth of info and ideas for anyone interested in such (which we all are, right?), and touching on a lot of issues I've written about previously. The report takes Sheffield as a case study alongside Cambridge, Derby and London. While it's not beyond criticism, the stats which Betts objects to are fairly unarguable, even if the brief summaries given in the Star story are less than entirely helpful (the report said 31 out of 56 cities lagged behind the rest, apparently. What?)

The report's introduction notes:
Sheffield provides an example of a traditional manufacturing based economy that has suffered from de-industrialisation. Although there have been some improvements over the last ten years, the city’s economy is still locked into past economic forms that can be seen as hindering its competitive advantage.
The local economy has traditionally been dominated by manufacturing industry, specialised in a restricted number of sectors, primarily related to the steel industry. [...] there is still a dominance of manufacturing industry, and some local opposition to diversification, identified as a force for continuity. Other barriers identified include few entrepreneurs to take forward ideas, the limited markets served by the city, and a lack of willingness on the part of the private sector to push for diversification.
[...] there are still concerns over the predominance of a risk-averse culture within Sheffield, and a lack of entrepreneurial skills which may hamper the development of this competitiveness driver and so prevent upgrading of the urban economy in the future.
As a result of these issues the data for Sheffield’s key economic indicators paint a difficult picture in terms of competitiveness and economic performance. Sheffield’s industrial heritage has left deep scars in terms of the economic structure of the city, which has been slow to adjust to new economic and technological forms. Local strategic decision-makers are keen to encourage new institutional and economic forms. Despite this the history of the pathdependent nature of the local economy cannot be ignored, and the fortunes of the city cannot be turned around overnight.
which seems fair to me.

The section specifically looking at Sheffield, as a case study of a 'de-industrialised' city, introduces a number of initiatives I've written at length about before, such as AMP, Finningley and the city centre redevelopment. A comment about the fine line between Sheffield's much-praised 'villagey' feel and a parochial susceptibility to negativity sounds about right, as does this about the city's manufacturing elders:
It should also be noted that in a city such as Sheffield, where manufacturing industry has traditionally been strong, the industrial elites associated with traditional manufacturing sectors are perceived as having a powerful role and considerable influence, particularly through the Cutler’s Company. Respondents suggested that their culture and background do not always sit harmoniously with the innovating new sectors that are contributing to drive the city’s economy; this can be a constraining factor for innovation in the city, as a force making for continuity, and not embracing change.

Overall, it's realistic and pretty positive about Sheff and its prospects. There's still plenty to be done, but the report is in no way as negative as Betts' soundbites would suggest.

More generally, the report points to the lopsided distribution of venture capital firm head offices (243 in London, 42 in Manc, 36 in Leeds and 35 in Brum, apparently) as an indicator of the failings of the knowledge-based economy outside the South East: There is therefore a distinct regional and urban dimension to the equity gap, in those small and new firms in the regions and cities outside the [South East] that find it difficult to access finance for investment, including venture capital. However, as I've written previously, there's mounting evidence that the equity gap no longer persists. (As I explore in a recent article in Corporate Financier, the gap may now be in corporate finance advice rather than funding per se.)

There's also some interesting findings re economic health and general quality of life, which run counter to some claims:
The concept of quality of life is a much abused idea. It has often been used for political purposes with scant regard to its clear and consistent definition or the available empirical research that seeks to clarify what it means to citizens. All too often it has become one of the promotional tools employed by city agencies with the main aim of making their particular location attractive to global capital [...but] there is no necessary connection between the standard of living enjoyed by residents of a city and the economic performance of its economy.

Cambridge, meanwhile, is generally seen as an exemplar of a knowledge-based cluster, but it faces some of the same problems (which I wrote about a few years ago here) as Sheffield -
Tough containment policies are seen to limit potential investment and economic growth in both Cambridge and Sheffield. In both cases restrictions on the land and building available for high-tech and other forms of knowledge intensive industries has hampered their development. This has restricted rates of change.

Exploring Jessops

The Sheffield Star is today raising controversy about 'urban explorers' entering local landmarks including Jessops Hospital, where I was born. To be fair, it's a pretty balanced piece, with the expected condemnatory quotes balanced by a bit of context from the explorer chaps:
One Sheffield explorer, who did not wish to be named but was on the visits to both Sheffield Cathedral and Jessop Hospital, said: "We normally visit places which are going to disappear and are a part of our history.
"The cathedral was a bit different. It was a unique opportunity to see the city centre from a different perspective. We never damage anything. Breaking in is something we would not do. Our motto is 'take only photographs and leave only footprints'."
"There is an element of risk but we take all precautions we can. It's worth it to see places which are so important and could be lost."

Not the sort of behaviour one should publicly condone, of course - but the pictures are intriguing. The explorer, DBS, notes: You'll find it tough to get in though if your waist is more than 30" and you can't shimmy drainpipes. I suspect I won't be joining them, then.

Latest on Sheffield University's plans for the site -
This next phase will see us refurbish and bring back to life the historic Victorian Wing of the old Jessop hospital building and build a landmark new building on the west corner of the same site.
These developments will provide new homes for the departments of Music, English, Law and History, and provide outstanding facilities for staff and students across the University.
The department of Music will move into the Victorian wing, once the careful refurbishment of this Grade II listed building is complete, whilst English, Law and History will all move into the new landmark building on the west corner of the site.
The new landmark building has been designed by Sauerbruch Hutton, award winning architects renowned for delivering iconic buildings, with environmental sustainability as a top priority. Sauerbruch Hutton won the contract as part of an internal architecture competition held by the University last year.
More here.

Wind and fury

Peel Airports, part-owners of the former Sheffield City Airport and owners of the slightly more active Finningley (sorry, Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield), have lodged a curious objection to a proposed wind turbine at the Advanced Manufacturing Park on the Sheffield/Rotherham border.

The Star reports:
AIRCRAFT could be put in danger by a giant wind turbine set to be built near Sheffield airport, it was claimed today.
Worried aviation bosses fear the 270ft high structure, with 90ft blades, could potentially lead to a disaster near Sheffield Parkway.
Peel Airports says the turbine, near the approach funnel for the runway, would "constitute a serious obstacle to the safe operation of aircraft".

The curious thing is that Peel has done pretty much all it can to stop planes flying into Sheffield City - last time I spoke to them, their plans involved a massive expansion of the business park and housing across the runway, retaining only a heliport. Their investment in the site during the run-up to their development of Finningley raised a few eyebrows at the time. (To be fair, Sheffield City Airport was never an entirely viable venture - it seems typically Sheffield endeavour to have an international airport with a runway too short to take most commercial aircraft).

Knowing the topography of the site, I'd also guess that any plane in danger of hitting a 80m windmill (which is, after all, outside the approach funnel) would also be in danger of scraping trucks on the nearby Parkway dual carriageway. Or, with a sudden gust of wind, reenacting 9-11 on the Tinsley twin towers (each barely 4m shorter than the proposed windmill).

Local residents are also reported to have objected about the plans, which they believe will lead to an overbearing presence and possible noise pollution. Yes, keep those unsightly windmills off our slagheaps! God knows what they'd say if anyone threatened to re-open the collieries, or even to fly planes over their heads.

I'd love to see a wind turbine on the site, particularly if the Tinsley towers are finally demolished. It'd be a great landmark for Sheffield, and a statement of intent for the new Factory of the Future development which will have a large focus on developing more environmentally-friendly technologies.

Wainhouse Tower in trouble

Apologies if I seem fixated on Yorkshire towers, but our most local landmark seems to be in dire straits.

The Halifax Courier reports:
HALIFAX'S historic Wainhouse Tower – shut to the public a year ago – will stay closed indefinitely.
Calderdale Council says safety problems at the 130-year-old landmark are worsening.
And current funding means renovations will not be considered until April at the earliest.
A regular inspection of the tower revealed problems with ornate masonry at its top.

The paper's leader rightly notes:
It is a lovely piece of history and a unique piece of architecture worth keeping. The question is should our council tax be spent on its renovation?
Surely it is a cause worthy of English Heritage or the National Trust who could maintain this unique piece of social history for future generations. Its story, so tied up with the area's industrial past, is worth telling in a display or small museum at the bottom and with some careful thought it could become not only a well-known landmark but a tourist attraction in its own right.

A brief background on the Wainhouse Tower, from my Strange Attractor essay on unusual aspects of local history -
This dark stone folly, rising some 75 metres above an overgrown cemetery, was erected by John Edward Wainhouse in the 1870s. It was meant to serve as a chimney for the dyeworks he'd inherited on Washer Lane, some 100 metres further down the valley slope. The dyeworks were sold off before construction was complete, and Wainhouse had the octagonal structure topped by an ornate observatory, reached by 369 steps winding around the chimney flue. Some reckon this was his intention all along – to build himself a platform where he could overlook the estate of a local rival. Some versions of the story say Wainhouse wanted to spy on his rival's wife. Some give his monument the name of the Tower of Spite.

Emley Moor anniversary

The Yorkshire Post reports on the 50th anniversary of a regional landmark -
ON November 3, 1956 the first television transmission was made from Emley Moor to those fortunate to have a set of their own.
Today, up to five million people receive their television signals from the third tower to stand on the site in 50 years – including one which collapsed in bad weather – which dominates the Yorkshire landscape.
The Grade II-listed 1,084ft tower, the UK's tallest free-standing structure, provides television transmissions throughout the UK for channels including BBC1, BBC2, ITV, Channel 4, Five, digital channels and the majority of independent radio stations.
The present tower stands a couple of miles from the West Yorkshire village of Emley and first transmitted on January 21, 1971, having been built after the previous 1,265ft tower, put up by the Independent Broadcasting Authority, collapsed on March 19, 1969 under the weight of heavy snowfall.
That one had only been put up four years earlier to improve coverage. Although it demolished a nearby chapel when it fell, fortunately nobody was injured, despite employees working at the tower at the time.

Tinsley towers - Gormley steps in

The BBC reports a notable new voice in the campaign to save 'Sheffield's iconic cooling towers' as a work of art - Antony Gormley, the artist best known for the Angel of the North up in Gateshead and the sea-gazing figures over in Crosby, and someone who knows a little about landmark art:

He said the towers were "intrinsically beautiful" and offered a very exciting vista from the motorway.
"They are to the industrial revolution what cathedrals were to the medieval world," he told the BBC.
He said the towers were "absolutely unique" in their shape and acoustic capabilities.
He thought they could be used as a concert hall or recording studio, to take full advantage of the acoustics afforded by the structures.
"I could see a choir singing specially-composed music in the centre, with the audience sitting in a circle round them," he said.
"To destroy something of this beauty is an act of vandalism."

Sadly, site-owner Eon is pressing ahead with plans for demolition -
Spokeswoman Rebecca Middleton said detailed structural survey work in the summer confirmed the towers were deteriorating.
"We have determined that now is the time to bring them down in a safe and controlled way," she said.

Hardcastle light

An autumnal day at Hardcastle Crags in the Calder valley.

Tinsley towers - a city divided

Latest in the continuing saga of the cooling towers at Tinsley, just by the M1 viaduct north-east of Sheffield, which are set to be transformed into a monumental work of conceptual art if only they can be saved from the wrecking ball. The Sheffield Star reports:
A CONTROVERSIAL decision to demolish Tinsley cooling towers today split opinion across South Yorkshire.
The 50-year-old twin towers have always polarised views - from those who think they are ugly to others who believe they represent South Yorkshire's proud industrial heritage.
And their owner's decision to demolish them is proving just as controversial.
E.ON.UK announced it is to bring down the towers before the end of the year due to their deteriorating structural condition...
In a Star internet/text poll on the demolition of the cooling towers, 51 per cent of those who responded said they would be sad to see the towers knocked down while 49 per cent said they would not.

Barnsley biomass

Today's Society Guardian highlights another aspect of environmental innovation in South Yorkshire, with an increasing use of biomass power in the former coalfields -

Instead of following its neighbours, which long ago replaced coal boilers with gas equivalents, Barnsley is now installing wood heating in all new public buildings and refurbishments, embracing biomass fuel as a preferred energy source.
Because wood is considered carbon neutral - any CO2 released in the combustion process is mopped up by growing trees - the move could slash the council's CO2 emissions by 60% by 2010, 40 years ahead of the government's 2050 target.
For [Barnsley MBC chief engineer, Dick] Bradford it is a simple equation. "From an environmental point of view, heating goes from being highly polluting to no carbon," he says. "It's a no-brainer."
...
Bradford says Barnsley's plants, which burn 6,500 tonnes of coal a year and generate 15,000 tonnes of CO2, will eventually be replaced with biomass, including the new town hall and nine new secondary schools, which will be replaced with new biomass-heated buildings under the Building Schools for the Future programme. The town's coal is currently sourced by UK Coal from various pits to create a "Yorkshire blend". "Soon, we won't be burning coal any more," says Bradford.
...
Like the one-time coal economy, biomass could provide a real boost to a depressed regional economy, says Bradford. It could provide employment - an estimated 15 jobs for every megawatt generated; bring neglected woodland into active management; and turn wood waste, which would otherwise be sent to landfill, into a commodity. "We get those big wins and we make the carbon savings targets 40 years ahead of where we should be making them. That's not bad."

Sheffield in Venice

Good article from BBC News to tie in with a Sheffield delegation (including former Human Leaguer Martyn Ware) representing Britain at the Venice Biennale of Architecture.

If Sheffield is representative of anything, it is of a post-industrial regional city seeking to regain its footing. There are many such in the world, hence its selection to represent the UK at the biennale, where the theme is the relationship between urban architecture and social dynamics.
...
Jim Dale, a design lecturer who has lived in and around the city since the age of four in the 1970s, says physically Sheffield is a very strange city.
"It feels the need to tear itself down and rebuild itself every couple of decades. The new buildings that have come in are great, but knowing Sheffield's record, what will we think about them in 20 or 30 years when something else is in fashion?
"But it's funny that the iconic carbuncles that have fallen from favour - the egg box, the wedding cake [a circular 1970s register office] - all had rather affectionate names. That's Sheffield humour for you."

Campaign for Real Wensleydale

I heartily endorse this campaign, managed by the Wensleydale Creamery, to win European Protected Designation of Origin for their cheese. Thick granary bread, wedge of Wensleydale, all toasted with a liberal dollop of Hendersons - what could be better? Especially if served with a pint of Black Sheep or similar on the side.

But do I detect the hand of Ian Green, former head hack at Yorkshire Business Insider and Venturedome and now at Wakefield's Green PR, in all this? Oh, yes. But I'll support it anyway.

Sky and basket

Two photos from a recent visit to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
Above, James Turrell's Skyspace in the old deer shelter.
Below, Dr Ro gets trapped inside Winter/Hörbelt's Basket #7.

Radical history

The Guardian (who else?) is launching a campaign to better commemorate Britain's long history of radical political and democratic activity. Media-friendly historian Tristram Hunt kicks off with his own nominations of events and sites that deserve monuments, including Manchester's Peterloo Massacre, the signing of the National Covenant in Edinburgh, and key scenes from the Chartist movement.

Hunt notes, with regards to the BBC's Restoration programme:
But there is another story of Britain's heritage which this picture-postcard take on the past is studiously ignoring. While Restoration Village shores up rural pastiche - complete with dry-stone walls and a warm, feudal glow of noblesse oblige - Britain's more exciting, more radical heritage is once again being by-passed in the search for funds and fame.
...
The stories, monuments and myths that traditionally linked progressives with their heroic past have steadily retreated from public consciousness. This amounts to something akin to a loss of collective memory. And so it should come as no surprise that we have difficulty rallying any broader, popular enthusiasm for our political process when we lack an appreciation of our democratic heritage.

It's a useful adjunct to the History Matters campaign which, with high-profile backers such as Boris Johnson and David Starkey (though Hunt and Tony Benn were also among the founders), can appear to be promoting an 'official' institutional version of histor, as per the Telegraph's interpretation -
Without a sense of history, we are not a nation, simply a random set of individuals born to another random set of individuals. Lose the thread that links us to our institutions and we lose ourselves. [...] Unless we know who the Stuart kings were, when they ascended to their thrones, and the main events of their reigns, the outlook of the contemporary peasant loses its reference points.

There's certainly appetite for history about all those radical events despised by the Telegraphs of their day. Here in Halifax last weekend, there was a healthy turnout for a Chartist Festival celebrating the lives and works of local figures. We joined in a walk around key scenes from the Chartist-backed Plug Plot of 1842, including the rallying ground on Skircoat Moor and the site of a pitched battle between mounted soldiers and workers down the hill at Salterhebble (just by the Shell garage and drive-through Macdonalds). I briefly mentioned the events in the local psychogeographical piece I wrote for Strange Attractor Journal -
On 15 August 1842, probably the largest mob ever seen in Halifax began with a procession of four or five thousand Chartist marchers entering across North Bridge from Bradford, a famished-looking mob armed with bludgeons, flails, pitchforks and pikes. Another march of five thousand entered the town from Skircoat Moor, where they'd spent the night. That group had come across from Lancashire, swelling in number as it came, closing the mills as it went by drawing the plugs from the mill boilers. They entered Halifax singing Chartist hymns and the 100th Psalm: "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands." The two groups met and the Riot Act was read. At the height, a mob of some 25,000 people thronged the streets of Halifax.

History worth remembering, I reckon.

Tinsley towers update

An update from the BBC on the plan to turn the cooling towers at Tinsley, just by the M1 viaduct in north-east Sheffield, into works of art.

The plan's got the backing of Channel 4's Big Art Project but, as peviously noted, has suffered a bit of a setback in that the site's owners at Eon Energy are planning to have the towers demolished.

This new report quotes a C4 spokesperson:
She said the site was the focus of the art project's involvement in Sheffield, but added even if the towers were destroyed they would remain a "symbol" of the art re-development that would take place in the city.
For now though, the future of what some people believe are icons of the city remains undecided.
An Eon Energy spokeswoman said "We are looking to demolish the towers later this year and negotiations are taking place with the Highways Agency".
However, she added that discussions are still ongoing with the Big Art project to save the towers.

I'd hate to see them go, if they're just going to be replaced with extra Meadowhall parking. But if they must go for safety reasons, and the artists are allowed free run on the site, what glories can replace them?

Go a go go

Quite pleasantly surprised this morning to see a nice big feature in the Society Guardian on the lads behind fab Sheffield fanzine Go, written by ex-YP chap James Graham. They're the people behind the plan to reinvent the cooling towers by the Tinsley viaduct as public art, which I wrote here about a few months ago.

What the Guardian piece doesn't mention, however, is that even though the tower project is among the finalists in Channel 4's Big Art Project, the more recent news is that site owners Powergen are going to knock them down anyway. A right shame.

Still, the Go folk are continuing to make a go of it. According to their recently overhauled site, they've been working with folk like Urban Splash and Levi's, and are part of the British team for the Venice Biennale for Architecture 2006. Not bad going.

After Objective One

The IPPR has released a new report on what the UK should be doing with the next generation of European Structural Funding, once the current Objective One programme ends. South Yorkshire has had the (yet to be fully quantified) benefit of Objective One since 2000, as has Merseyside (for the second consecutive time), and some of the Celtic fringes. From 2007, South Yorkshire and Merseyside will lose the bulk of their funding, thanks in part to European expansion since the last round. The expansion also means that there's unlikely to be further ESF money for the wealthy UK after this round, so this is, as the IPPR says, 'last orders'.

From the IPPR press release, the new funding for 2007-2013 breaks down thus:
Total UK share of the EU Structural Funds: £6.5 billion.
Convergence objective: £1.8 billion: replaces Objective 1. Only Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly; West Wales and the Valleys; and Scotland’s Highlands and Islands are eligible. No major urban area will benefit – a change from 2000-2006, when both Merseyside and South Yorkshire had Objective 1 status.
Competitiveness and Employment programmes: £4.3 billion. This covers all other areas of the UK, replacing the old Objectives 2 and 3. Merseyside and South Yorkshire will receive ring-fenced funding of £310m and £275m, about one-third of their 2000-2006 EU allocations. The distribution of the remaining £3.5 billion has not yet been decided.
Co-operation programmes: £0.4 billion. This covers cross-border collaboration.
These funds will be spread over seven years, equivalent to around £900 million each year for the whole of the UK. Domestic spending on enterprise and economic development alone amounted to £4.7 billion in 2004-05 (HM Treasury, 2005).

The IPPR's Centre for Cities recommends that the uncommited £3.5 billion be concentrated on city-regions, particularly those away from the affluent (on aggregate) and over-developed South East -
it is the big city-regions outside London – Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Tyneside and Glasgow – that can most effectively use limited EU resources to deliver a step-change in economic growth. investment, enterprise, innovation, skills and employment.

Sensible enough, even though the idea of city-regions has yet to win many admirers in the regions rather than the cities - such as Halifax and Calderdale, where the councillors seem to bristle at being made to seem subordinate to Leeds. And given the IPPR's traditional closeness to New Labour, I wouldn't be surprised to see these recommendations being carried through to some greater or lesser extent.

A pdf of the full IPPR report can be downloaded here.

Rebuilding streets in the sky

The planning application from developers Urban Splash is finally in for the redevelopment of Sheffield's (in)famous Park Hill estate, that highly visible and much loved/loathed monster of modernist architecture.

For the application, go here and search for ref 06/00848/OUT. For Urban Splash's eye-opening brochure, download this.

The listed complex is undoubtedly one of the most striking/terrifying examples of post-war high-rise idealism sunk into urban decay. Can it be rescued for the 21st century? In the short to medium term, if it gets enough money thrown at it, probably. It was a proud and sought-after place to live when it was first built, as were many high-rises - and as are many of the new generation of high-density 'urban living' type developments.

As the promotional bumf puts it:
Can it work second time around? Of course it can.
In many ways Park Hill is so modern. The flat plans are great, more generous than many developer’s modern boxes – they were built to Parker Morris standards so there is enough room to swing a cat and somewhere to park your Dyson.
The streets in the sky are great because not only do you get to know your neighbours but you might get to know your whole ‘street’ and we want to make great streets again.

(Interesting, by the way, that a Dyson has become a ubiquitous signifier for an aspirational lifestyle.)

But will it be more successful this time at building and maintaining enough of a community that it remains a desirable, thriving place? That'd be the real challenge, and one that's only met once the developers have made their money and moved on. I know from people who've bought into the new developments in Leeds, Manchester and elsewhere that there's little community to be found in these schemes - not least, I suspect, because the vast majority of flats are bought to let, meaning there's few permanent residents to long-lasting attachments, and that many flats are empty thanks to an over-developed, over-heated market. I don't know that the famous 'streets in the sky' layout will necessarily help that - I suspect the dominant factors here are socio-political rather than architectural.

It'll be fascinating to see how it all works out, but I hope I'll be excused if I don't pre-order my flat now.

Cooling the towers

Just received good news from Channel 4's Big Art Project. Last year, they wanted nominations for the commissioning of some big public art project somewhere in Britain. Sheffield fanzine Go called for nominations for an artistic reinvention of the cooling towers which overshadow the M1 at the Tinsley Viaduct by Meadowhall.

It was the most popular nomination, and now it's on the final shortlist of six. They're filming tomorrow, Thursday 9th March, and want supporters of the project to assemble at the Meadowhall overspill carpark at 3pm.

I think it's a brilliant idea - the towers are the first or only glimpse of Sheffield for thousands of people a day, they're already a landmark, and with a bit of an imaginative overhaul they could become truly iconic.

As Go puts it:
Sheffield isn't a big city or a high rise city in the same way that Manchester or Birmingham are. It's a good place to be for different reasons. We don't need to ape those other cities. We have enough heritage and culture and ideas to forge our own identity. It's all here in front of us. If you want a city strategy, all you need to do is open your eyes.

Dead right. I've written plenty on the various regeneration projects run by Sheffield One and the like - there's been some improvements, but that's the attitude we needn if it's really going to matter.