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Lisa Clarke
Local attributes and Heritage
Westpack is situated on a predominantly industrial road, which is within the Kelham Island Conservation area, close to Sheffield City Centre. Kelham Island was named after one of it’s first residents, Kellham Homer who was the town’s armourers. Kelham Island was one of the first industrial areas in the country to be given the conservation status, this was done to protect the area’s unique characteristics and maintain the heritage of Kelham Island.
Kelham Island is historically known for the metal trade industry, metal making, shaping and forming, it’s also known for its grade two listed buildings alongside the area’s distinctive appearance, traditional red brick, historic stone flags and kerbs in courtyard entrances. Kelham Island is a unique area of Sheffield it is home to a museum which showcases its history and also to many independent businesses such as bars, shops, galleries, microbreweries, and restaurants, with JÖRO in particular that has recently been added to the Michelin guide.
History of the site
Source: Digimaps
The Westpack site was previously an industrial site, used for engineering which is shown in the below illustration which shows taken from 1890.
The usage is also referred to in the planning permission applications, there are 3 that relate to this postcode; however, they confirm, that the site has always been industrial, workshops, manufacturing, storage and from the late 1970s some units were converted to offices.
Restrictions
Due to the site being within a conservation area, it means that there are elements that need to be protected, so it is recommended that for this devolvement, it retains the pitched roof, however, a penthouse flat will be built into the roof and the red brick remains, so it is in keeping with the area.
additional cost
The site is also in a flood zone, the last time the area flooded was 2007.
We have opted to create an underground, stacking carpark as we believe that if there is another flood, it is easier to repair a carpark than it is to repair homes and businesses. In order to minimise the effects, if there is another instance of flooding, it would be advisable to fully tank that carpark, move the water table to below the foundations of the carpark and then add sump pumps, which would automatically trigger if the water was to reach a certain level and dewater the carpark.
Flood warnings are now available from the council via phone, text or email, meaning that if all users of the carpark sign up for this then they are able to move their cars as soon as they get an alert which again will minimise the after-effects of flooding.
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