Park Hill was previously the site of
back-to-back housing, a mixture of 2–3-storey
tenement buildings, open ground, quarries and steep
gennels (alleyways) connecting the homes. The streets were arranged in a
gridiron with terraces of back-to-back housing; a row facing the street, backed with a row facing inwards to a court-yard. There were
shared privies unconnected to mains drainage. One
standpipe supported up to 100 people. It was colloquially known as "
Little Chicago" in the 1930s, due to the incidence of violent crime there.
Clearance of the area began during the 1930s. The first clearance was made for the Duke/Bard/Bernard Street scheme in 1933. The courts were replaced with four-storey blocks of
maisonettes. In 1935 it was proposed to clear the central area which included streets to the south of Duke Street; South Street, Low Street, Hague Lane, Lord Street, Stafford Street, Long Henry Street, Colliers Row, Norwich Street, Gilbert Street and Anson Street. John Rennie, the city's Medical Officer of Health, concluded: :
"...the dwelling houses in that area [of Duke Street, Duke Street Lane, South Street and Low Street] are by reason of disrepair or sanitary defects unfit for human habitation, or are by reason of their bad arrangement, or the narrowness or bad arrangement of the streets, dangerous or injurious to the health of the inhabitants of the area, and that the other buildings in the area are for a like reason dangerous or injurious to the health of the said inhabitants, and that the most satisfactory method of dealing with the conditions in the area is the demolition of all the buildings in the area." G. C. Craven, the city's planning officer, recommended wholesale demolition and possible replacement with multi-storey flats. The Second World War halted this. Following the war it was decided that a radical scheme needed to be introduced to deal with rehousing the Park Hill community. To that end, architects
Jack Lynn and
Ivor Smith under the supervision of
J. L. Womersley, Sheffield Council's City Architect, began work in 1953 designing the Park Hill Flats. Inspired by
Le Corbusier's
Unité d'Habitation and the
Smithsons' unbuilt schemes, most notably for
Golden Lane in London, the
deck access design was viewed as 'revolutionary'; in reality the fantastical schemes were often less practical for the families actually living in them. The style is known as
brutalism.
Construction Construction began in 1957. Park Hill (Part One) was officially opened by
Hugh Gaitskell, MP and Leader of the Opposition, on 16 June 1961. The City Council published a brochure on the scheme which was in several languages, including Russian. To maintain a strong sense of community, neighbours were re-homed next door to each other and old street names from the area were re-used (e.g. Gilbert Row, Long Henry Row). The second phase consisted of four high rise blocks, containing 1,160 dwellings, on the hill behind, joined to the main scheme by two three-storey terraces to the east of Bernard Street that contained 153 dwellings. This was renamed in May 1961, becoming the
Hyde Park flats. The terraces became Hyde Park Walk and Hyde Park Terrace. The Hyde Park tower blocks were between five and 19 storeys high. This was opened on 23 June 1966 by
Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Further housing schemes were completed to similar designs, including the Broomhall and Kelvin developments in Sheffield. At first these '
Streets in the sky' enjoyed some popularity and success; for the first time in their lives, the working-poor tenants had the luxury of private bathrooms and efficient heating, but problems soon began to surface; Parents felt unable to keep an eye on their children in the playgrounds so many floors below, some older people felt isolated – if the access lifts were out of order it meant many stairs to climb, and even when they were working, lifts could be unpleasant due to being used as 'toilets' especially at weekends, requiring a caretaker to swill them with strong smelling disinfectant. Secluded walkways and stairwells provided opportunity for crime and anti-social behaviour while high balconies invited some to throw refuse and other more dangerous items over them; in the late 1970s a child was killed by a TV set thrown from Hyde Park flats. The high platforms also attracted suicidal jumpers. Government restrictions on how potential tenants were allocated to flats, the decay of the building's fabric when not maintained, poor noise insulation and issues with resident security caused their popularity to wane. For many years, the council found it difficult to find tenants for the flats.
Listing and renovation Despite the problems, the complex remained structurally sound, unlike many
system-built blocks of the era, and controversially was Grade II* listed in 1998 making it the largest
listed building in Europe.
Sheffield City Council hoped this would attract investment to renovate the building, but this was not initially forthcoming. The decision to list the estate was controversial at the time and it continues to attract criticism. A part-
privatisation scheme by the developer
Urban Splash in partnership with
English Heritage to turn the flats into upmarket
apartments,
business units and
social housing is now underway. Sheffield City Council have created a new public park, South Street Open Space, between the railway station and Park Hill. This includes a series of seating terraces and new planting areas.
Phase 1 Flanks A, B and C (the tallest sections of the buildings) were initially cleared, leaving only their concrete shell. The renovation was one of the six shortlisted projects for the 2013 RIBA
Stirling Prize. which retains the original brick infill and full width of the streets. 195 new flats and townhouses will be developed in flanks D, E, F, G and H around a central residents garden as well as of commercial space. This phase also included the restoration of the link bridge to Phase 1. Planning approval was granted in December 2017 and work began on site in January 2019. Homes went on sale in February 2020 and residents moved in from January 2022. A pub opened in September 2023, the first pub at Park Hill since the original development. Its name, The Pearl, is an amalgamation of the names of 2 of those earlier establishments – The Parkway Tavern and The Earl George. Phase 2 of the Park Hill redevelopment was shortlisted for the 2024 RIBA
Stirling Prize.
Phase 3 Phase 3 has been developed as student accommodation, consisting of 356 rooms in 74 townhouse style units as well as communal spaces and a convenience shop. Flanks M, N, O, P and Q were developed as part of this phase which has been named
Béton House. Planning approval was granted in July 2018 and work began on site in May 2019. Work completed in autumn 2020 with the first students moving in during September 2020. The convenience store, Park Hill Provisions, opened in October 2021.
Phase 4 Planning approval was granted in August 2019 for the redevelopment of flanks R, S and T into 95 residential units, artist accommodation, heritage flats, artist studios, and contemporary art gallery. An updated planning application was submitted in June 2023 in which the art gallery (and associated studios and accommodation) were removed due to a lack of funding. It also included controversial plans to replace some of the existing green space with car parks. A further amended planning application was approved in November 2023. Construction work began in January 2026, commencing an expected build programme of 106 weeks.
Phase 5 A planning application for the fifth and final phase of the redevelopment was submitted in June 2024. Plans for flanks I, J, K and L included 105 residential units, a flexible commercial space and a residents allotment. Planning approval was granted in September 2024. ==Description==