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Adam Gatti
The building comprising Gate 3a and 5 consists of an office which has been abandoned and a warehouse. The warehouse appears to be approximately 40 years old, having been constructed in the 1980s. Parts of the front elevation of the warehouse appear older with brickwork and stonework dating back to Victorian or the early twentieth century. Parts of the front elevation have been incorporated into the refurbishment in the 1980s with steel trusses attached to brick buttresses
The front elevation has a number of windows that have been bricked up which demonstrates that there was a desire for light in the past. The number of bricked up windows suggests it was for an older style of building. There is stone below the sills of the windows. Beyond this, the building was constructed in the 1980s.
Front Elevation – illustrating stone and bricked up windows
Front Elevation – illustrating stone and bricked up windows
The bricks on the outside of the building have been painted. There is profile metal cladding above the brickwork which matches the inside. The roof has profile metal cladding with a thin layer of insulation. Areas of the roof have vegetation growing on them.
Vegetation growing on warehouse roof
Vegetation growing on warehouse roof
The inside of the warehouse is lined in concrete blockwork with panelling above the blockwork. The panelling is probably glass reinforced boarding.
The inside of the warehouse is lined in concrete blockwork with panelling above the blockwork. The panelling is probably glass reinforced boarding.
Moss growing on lighting panels
The roof of the warehouse consists of metal sheet panels with translucent fibreglass lighting panels interspersed in the roof.
Damage to upper wall panels
The interior walls show numerous examples of impact damage, probably as a result of being hit by pallets of cardboard including loose blockwork and damage to the upper wall panels (glass reinforced boarding).
Loose concrete block
Upper wall panels have been sampled
A concern may have been the presence of asbestos in the upper wall panels, however, there is a sample label on the panels which is green which indicates the panels have been sampled and are not asbestos.
A refurbishment and demolition survey would need to be undertaken to determine there is no asbestos on the site. The survey is used to locate and describe all the asbestos containing materials in the area where the refurbishment will take place or in the whole building if demolition is undertaken (Doran et al, 2009).
The roof comprises of steel stanchions, steel roofing beams and steel purlins and appear more or less as they appeared when first built.
The floor is concrete with a screed laid in bays. The floor appears reasonably level with no obvious signs of subsidence.
The windows are the original single glazed units with wooden frames from the 1980s.
Viewing the structure of the building from a window facing the River Don the low level wall consists of 4 layers comprising stone on the bottom, then brick, then a concrete slab which is approximately 12 inches thick (appears to have been used as a raft foundation) with clay brick on the top layer.
View from rear window overlooking River Don. Stone layer at the bottom, next to the river
View from rear window overlooking River Don. Stone layer at the bottom, next to the river
Lower wall of warehouse from the other side of the River Don
Lower wall of warehouse from the other side of the River Don
Damage to the wall of the warehouse
Damage to the wall of the warehouse
Damage to steel post supporting frame
Damage to steel post supporting frame
Damage to steel post supporting frame.
Damage to steel post supporting frame.
The guttering for the warehouse is plastic. The River Don goes up to the boundary of the building. Looking from the open window there is no obvious signs of Japanese knotweed in the vicinity of the building. Japanese knotweed is found on the River Don and a membrane can be used to prevent Japanese knotweed spreading to the site in the future.
Throughout the warehouse there are numerous examples of damage to the concrete blockwork and upper wall panels above. However nothing is of major concern structurally.
Generally, the quality of the construction is poor and there has been the bare minimum of maintenance carried out on the building (Riley and Cotgrave, 2014).
A steel Stanchion has been hit by machinery such as a forklift truck, however the structural integrity of the stanchion does not appear to have been affected.
Office building to the side of the warehouse – ceiling collapsing
Office building to the side of the warehouse – ceiling collapsing and floor damaged
Trees close to the warehouse
Wet floor in the warehouse – possibly as a result of the roof leaking.
Culvert under the courtyard.
Office
Office
In the older part of the building which appears to have been an office in the past, the roof has been leaking and as a result the electrics have been taken out in past. The office is a brick construction with a fibre board ceiling. The leaking flat roof has caused the ceiling to collapse in places and the wooden floor to rot in places. The office walls appear to be fine structurally, but the damp issues caused by the leaking roof have resulted in the office being abandoned (Watt, 2007 and Parrett, 2016).
There is a smaller room to the side of the office which appears to have a redundant oil fired generator. There is a smell of oil and there could be contamination issues with the floor.
On the front elevation of the building there is a locked entrance door to an electric plant which would appear to be the electric transformer for the building.
The building to the left of the courtyard as you face the River Don is a neighbouring property with windows facing the courtyard (right of light needs to be considered) and also a door with access to the courtyard. It will need to be checked whether the neighbour has a right to access their property through the courtyard.
Geology
Geology
Digimap. Geology. https://digimap.edina.ac.uk/roam/map/geology
The bedrock geology of the site is Pennine lower coal measures formation which consists of mudstone and siltstone. The superficial geology is river alluvium which comprises of gravel, sand, silt and clay.
A geotechnical investigation would need to be carried out to enable the design of an appropriate foundation. This could cost in the region of £30,000 - £50,000.
There has not been any mining on the site. This is confirmed by the fact the site is next to the River Don where any mining would not have been possible due to the flooding that would have occurred as a result of the river location.
Flood Risk
There is a medium risk of flooding at the site according to the Environmental Agency website. Medium risk is the second highest level with a chance of flooding between 1% to 3.3%.
There is also a high risk of surface water flooding. The topography of the land in the area shows that run off from rainwater would reach the site.
The site location is also in the path of potential reservoir failure risk. However, this is fairly low risk as the last time a reservoir failure occurred was 11 March 1864.
The last time there was a flood in the area was 25 June 2007.
The site falls under Flood Zone 3a and a flood risk assessment would need to be completed should the site be redeveloped (National Planning Policy Framework (p160-169))
At local level the flood plan for Sheffield is covered by “Protecting Sheffield from Flooding”.
The owner of the site may be required to contribute to the planned hard defence zone i.e., the Sheffield Upper Don Valley flood protection scheme.
Reviewing the existing flood defences of the area where the building is located it does not appear that the defences are adequate as the walls are crumbling and comprise of poor materials.
It should be noted that buildings can be designed and constructed to be flood resilient. The buildings are designed to allow water to enter and then dry out. Other options include building above the level of risk of flooding which would involve constructing a piled solution.
Picture Sheffield (1864). Waterloo Street. Flooding as a result of the failure of a reservoir. https://www.picturesheffield.com/
Contaminated Land
Contaminated Land
The site was a former engineering works and had four chimneys which have been demolished and removed. There could be foundry ash on the site and a geo environmental survey would need to be carried out (Riley and Cotgrave, 2014).
Community and schools
Community and schools
There is a strong community in Kelham, however there are no schools in Kelham itself, although there are schools close to Kelham. The lack of a school in Kelham may have an impact on the granting of residential accommodation.
The Star. (30 April 2020).
Map of Bombs in Sheffield. Black dots show where bombs fell.
Bombing of Kelham and Neepsend during World War II
Bombing of Kelham and Neepsend during World War II
The Kelham and Neepsend area were bombed during World War II.
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