We’ve been busy over the last couple of months moving ahead with our Brownfield Housing Fund supported pilot project. We’ve now appointed a consultant team for this feasibility work, consisting of Archio architects, an award winning practice with retrofit, housing and CLT expertise; Arup Sheffield, bringing both local knowledge and an international reputation to Fire, MEP and Structural Engineering; WT Partnership, whose Sheffield office are our cost consultants; the Confederation of Co-operative Housing, assisting us with development models; and Paul Lancaster as a Sheffield based Property Consultant.

Following briefing workshops and walks around the city centre, the team has been working with us on exploring options for around 10 city centre sites to explore how they might work as an initial site, and deliver on our aspirations to create a mix of affordable homes and workspace in a refurbished commercial building. We’ve been looking at constraints and opportunites in workshops and will be sharing this information in a members’ meeting soon before a shortlisting process in February.