Sheffield site winner announced

Prewett Bizley has been selected as the winning architect for the Sheffield site as part of the Europan 9 competition. The Sheffield site received the most number of entries of the UK sites. The team’s skills were demonstrated in their Urban Grafting submission, and they were chosen for their understanding of the challenges and opportunities the site poses, and ideas for linking the site to nearby estates and the rest of the city.

One of the key ideas of the proposal is a wide public promenade on the ridge, opening up the views over Sheffield. The promenade would provide a clear and well defined public space linking the housing to existing amenities. The jury liked the positive sense of place and ownership created by the promenade.

Europan 9 is Europe’s leading housing design competition for architects under the age of 40. Sheffield put forward the Skye Edge site because of its distinctive characteristics; it is long and narrow, highly visible from the city centre, and benefits from fantastic views.

Prewett Bizley will draw up more detailed plans for around 140 new houses on the site and there will be public consultation over the summer as they prepare to work up the full designs.

Karl Tupling, Director of Housing at Sheffield City Council said:

“We want to increase the number of high quality homes in Sheffield that meet the needs of the community. We look forward to working with the architects, who have a great track record, as well as local people on the plans for Skye Edge. We are now looking for a top class developer to help us to make the best possible use of this fantastic site”

The plans for Skye Edge will complement the wider regeneration work in the area, including connections to Wybourn and making the most of local green and open spaces. The Council approved the masterplan for Wybourn, Arbourthorne and Manor Park Masterplan 2005, and work is well underway on some of the key projects in the area such as a ‘Homezone’ for Benson Road, a new Children’s Centre, and improving former council housing now owned by Parkway Housing Association.

Peter Maxwell, head of Better Public Buildings at CABE, comments:

‘The quality of what Prewett Bizley is proposing sets a high standard for housing. Their proposal for Skye Edge is a distinctive scheme and the judges were particularly impressed by the promenade which provides well-designed public space which links existing amenities, such as the community centre to the park with fantastic views across the city. CABE will offer on-going support to the winning team with mentoring through our enabling panel.’