M.Arch Design Report

The Story of Sheffield Ecological Development Foundation & the forgotten lands of The Wicker

DESIGN REPORT

Peter John Merrett

University of Sheffield

Studio 9: Fast & Slow Architecture

March 2008

010129618

DESIGN REPORT

Peter John Merrett

University of Sheffield

Studio 9: Fast & Slow Architecture

March 2008

010129618

The Story of Sheffield Ecological Development Foundation & the forgotten lands of The Wicker

Early perceptive readings of the site mapped onto cartesian space - repre-sented by the familiar Ordnance Survey Grid NO GO STREETS TRANSPORT WASTE FORGOTTEN WATERWAYSVACANT SITES

Space becomes territorialised in this representation. However some of it drops of the map: These territories are obscured and incongrous and do not belong with the colonised, functionally structured space of the city centre.

“Through negative space, a void exists so that the ingredients can be seen in a moving or dynamic way”

Gordon Matta-Clarke cited in F. Careri, Walkscapes: Walking as an Aesthetic practice, Barce-lona: Gustavo Gili (2001) pp13.

Introduction

This report presents a way in to my sixth year thesis project. Earlier investiga-tions have focused on our temporal relationship to space and the city. Experi-ence-led explorations have contributed to an urban analysis which assimilates objective, rational information with diverse subjective, perceptive readings of a place. After learning how to make hard space softspace, I hope to show how we can work in time and not against it. Perhaps we can now thaw our frozen ambition and return to bottom-up building practices.

The following pages project the emergence of an alternative vision of sustain-able development, speculating how a new vision might unfold from the specific social and urban conditions of the Wicker/ Spital Hill area of Sheffield.

I will argue that there are alternative approaches to urban development which can counteract the unequivocal influence of capital with real effect. The con-ceptual basis of the project explores the potentials of terrains vagues as sites for cultural transformation through the vehicle of Sheffield Ecological Develop-ment Foundation (SED).

To realise such an ideal I see the key tool to be the stimulation of bottom-up building practices and the cultivation of the webs of interaction or ecologies which make such practices possible.

This map has been prepared as an attempt to describe a previously lacking influential cartography. In this inversion, terrains vagues are conceived as archipelagos in a sea of systematised space, the result of all that which is left over.

“The relationship between the absence of use… and the sense of freedom, of expectancy, is fundamental to the evocative potential of the city’s terrains vagues’.. Void, absence, yet also promise – the space of the possible”

Ignasi Sola Morales Rubio, Terrain Vague, MIT 1996

2009

2012

2014

2019

ContentsIntroduction ....1

SteppingStones ....3

S M L XL:space-time-scale/layers ....5

“ThestoryofSED&theforgottenlandsoftheWicker” ....7Wicker&SpitalHillWorks ....9

CZBSreclamationyard ...11

BridgehousesPassiveRadicalHousing ...13

SEDCommunityDesignServices ...15

SpitalHillShops ...17

MAMACafe ...19

WorkshopDoor ...21

SpitalHillWorksfromtheWicker ...23

TheWickerFromSpitalHill ...25

appendixi:BurngreaveMessengerappendixii:global-regional-localSheffieldappendixiii:<site>researchappendixiv:SheffieldReclamationStrategy

2019 2025

Stepping Stones

This essay is conceived as a series of stepping stones into the project, and is followed by a narrative format presentation which simulates how an alternative system of urban development might emerge from the polyvalent conditions of site/place. Although such a strategy is not purely architectural, this report focuses on how more overtly ‘architectural’ strategies might support this vision.

We set sail in 2008, at a developed stage in the Era of Late Capitalism, when short-term economic & political imperatives have paralysed our ability to think about the future. As architects, we find ourselves designing a very uncertain future. So long as client organisations are themselves driven by short-term considerations, our attempts to provoke an architecture which considers the long term might be futile. Despite the adoption of the term ‘sustainable com-munities’ by central and local government, in practice, we find ourselves un-able to profoundly or effectively address this agenda. The fundamental, often hidden values of the contemporary system of development betray the veneer of enthusiasm (for sustainable development) given in governmental rhetoric and published planning guidance. This project seeks to redress such systemic downfalls by projecting the emergence of an alternative vision of sustainable, ecological development.

We arrive at the shoreline of an unknown territory. No longer do we feel the comfort of our familiar surroundings and the assurance of our professional ex-pertise. Instead we are foreigners in our own City, deterritorialised the moment we set foot on terrains vagues. However, we feel different; we feel an evoca-tion of potential. Instead of meeting this new land with fear and derision, the perception of this minor architecture is not derived from a minor language: it is rather that which a minority constructs from within a major language.1 Sheffield Ecological Development Foundation (SED) is a vehicle through which the theo-ries, questions and manifestos arising from our studies can be tested. As such SED begins to occupy this terrain, not to colonise it, or harmonise it to a familiar tune, but to stimulate its potential as a pretext for cultural transformation. The very attributes which have caused these territories to become awkward, forgot-ten and perhaps invisible, are the same characteristics which contribute to their potential as sites of transformation. This is realised through the emergence of the values, language, procedure and organisation of a minor architecture, sym-bolised by Sheffield Ecological Development Foundation.

1Paraphrasing Deleuze & Guattari; they identify a minor literature as “a seedbed of subversion & transformation” owing to its construction within a major or dominant language. ( Kafka: Toward a Minor Literature)

Toward a minor architecture

We must remember the value to a socially engaged architecture in seeking to design places for people and no longer designing buildings as objects. In order to approach this we must first examine how space becomes place; how do places operate; what do their psychogeographical contours reveal? Where did these places come from and what will they become? Following this immer-sion/analysis, comes the question of how space is produced.

Earlier f+s studio studies focused on the Wicker, at the Northern edge of Shef-field city centre. Our findings identified zones of rupture, boundaries, intersec-tions and voids between territories inhabited by diverse communities. We noticed how these findings were absent from Cartesian representations of the area (such as architectural plans and Ordinance Survey maps). From the outset, I had hoped to explore the fast&slow platform as a continuation of the architectural developments made in our 2006 studio softspace: The explora-tion of indeterminate ‘soft’ space as a release from unequivocal control over our built environment revealed how temporal effects are often subordinated by spa-tial dynamics in relation to the production of space2. I have tried to understand the relationship between the haptic, organic, emergent growth of a city and the transcendentally imposed order which forcibly controls that growth.

In so doing, I have found theoretical tools with which to explore the values and strategies of an alternative approach to urban development.

Hylomorphism & Material Self-Ordering

“(The concepts of hylomorphism & material self-ordering) … are created through the articulation of the philosophical significance of Deleuze & Guattari’s elucidation of complexity theory, which allows us a way to think the self-order-ing potentials of matter itself. This forces us to rethink the concept of produc-tion as the transcendent imposition of the architect’s vision of form on chaotic matter, which Deleuze and Guattari call ‘hylomorphism’, following the work of Gilbert Simondon.”3

This concept and counter-concept addresses the keystone values of my ap-proach to an alternative system of development. The goal is to upturn the dominant practice of urban development as the transcendent imposition of the

2Although time is so pervasively and inseparably related to space, contingency is rarely admitted within the bounds of architectural practice; “ The ideal is architecture, or sculpture, immobilis-ing harmony, guaranteeing the duration of motifs whose essence is the annulment of time” (G. Bataille, L’experience Intérieure).

3J. Protevi, Political Phisics: Deleuze, Derrida and the Body Politic pp7.

architect’s vision of form on chaotic matter.4 Instead, I seek to promote a prac-tice of artisanal production where artisans must ‘surrender’ to matter; “…to follow its singularities by attending to its traits, and then devise operations that bring forth those potentials to actualise desired properties.” 5 For example, the project seeks to provide opportunities for the practice of construction industry profes-sionals to become closer to that of artisans who surrender, not to capitalist sys-tems, but to the contexts, affects and social systems of a locale.6

John Protevi describes how “Form must be seen as suggested by the matter rather than as the pure product of the mind of the architect”. According to De-leuze & Guatarri, forms are already laden with ‘variable intensive affects’ tied to their ‘material traits of expression’. As architects we cannot pretend that our formal creations do not influence social, temporal, political and cultural spheres. The matter which we are charged with shaping is not only tectonic (where form = matter), but includes temporal/political/cultural materials which are contingent to our design activity. The material traits of expression which we use are not bound to the limited terms of architectural formalism but to the impure site of our encounter. Geology, geography, cultural history, and a thousand other plateaus describe the material traits of <site>. 7

The commonplace occurence of ‘tabula rasa’ when a site comes into the creative ownership of the architect can be seen as a result of the reduction of space to a very limited set of characteristics or ‘material traits’. When we begin to under-stand that any site exists within a living ecosystem, an ecology made from a web of interrelated entities, we can no longer ignore these contingent forces. Brian Eno’s lecture in November 2006 highlighted the Darwinian revelation that the universe was not in fact connected in an hierarchical pyramid; “ …an intellectual version of Ronald Reagan’s ‘trickle-down theory’, at the top of which sits God, followed by Great Men, horses, women and dogs…” 8

4 i) Although such ‘transcendental imposition’ still occurs where architects can find patrons for their art, most architects are no longer able to assert such power- they can only dream of it. ii) Architects are one of many groups invested with the power to influence our built environ-ment, which includes Engineers, Surveyors, Developers, Regional Development Agencies and local government. All partake in the systems of development characterised in the Era of Late Capitalism.

5 John Protevi, Political Phisics: Deleuze, Derrida and the Body Politic pp8.

6 See Appendix for elaboration.

7 These ideas about space and place run in parallel with the concept of genus loci, a term em-braced by architectural historian/theoretician Christian Norberg-Schulz. Genus Loci or “sense of place” defines the profound attributes which give the perception of different sites their character and their identity. This is the raw material of psychogeographical work on urban or natural land-scapes.

8 6th November 2006: “Musician, Artist and man of ideas Brian Eno unveils his personal mani-festo for a new understanding of culture and science in the 21st century” (www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/freethinking2006)

Charles Darwin’s On The Origin of Species (1859) suggested that life wasn’t de-signed by something more complex than life; that life in all its complexity grew out of something more simple.

The discussion of Deleuze & Guattari’s behavioural-biological ‘machinics’ in A Thousand Plateaus uses another concept and counter concept, where the ar-borified imposes form or a correct structure from without or above, while the rhizomatic process depends on articulation from within- “packets of relations evolve without a blueprint; coordination & interaction are never distinct or linear, …but work like neural networks, according to release or inhibition.” 9

The application of Deleuze’s philosophical concepts in architecture raises interesting methodological issues discussed here in relation to the concepts of ‘folding architecture’;

“Inflected by philosophy, folding architecture’s techniques operate top-down, in that they move from philosophical spatial concept to designing abstract diagrams to implementing them in plans and projects. There is a certain irony in this, given that the central concepts of folding architecture are all founded on bottom-up principles. In other words, folding architecture has discovered how to design bottom-up concepts, but not how to practice bottom-up building procedures.” 10

This project seeks to directly address this shortcoming. Sheffield Ecological Development Foundation acts to stimulate the neural networks (already in place in the milieus of the city) to release the potential of rhizomatic processes of production (regeneration). This regeneration is made possible by exploring the possibilities of bottom-up building procedures. I hope to make this approach stand in contradistinction from the suppressive, homogenising force exerted through the arborified imposition of so-called ‘natural’ market forces.

The aim is not to provide a theoretical basis for a top-down and abstracted gen-esis of architectural form; instead these philosophical concepts have shown a way of thinking about the socio-political situatedness of architectural practice. For architects to take part in bottom-up building practices, a radical shift in mind-set is necessary. We must dismiss the idea of the autonomous architect who knows better than the client by default. The myth that the architect/author is the sole creator (and therefore the sole custodian of the significance of the work 11)

9 P. A. Harris, To See with the Mind and Think through the Eye: Deleuze, Folding Architecture, and Simon Rodia’s Watts Towers, in Deleuze and Space, University of Edinburgh Press: 2005, pp40.

10Ibid. pp38

11 (Note about Death of the Author etc.)

persists in the tacitly formed relationships between architect and client. This can create an unequal and often combattative power relationship which ob-structs effective communication. However, successful communication between these two key actors has a significant impact on the quality and longevity of our built environment, and a simple change in mindset could make an important contribution to our ‘building culture’.

The diagram below attempts to explain how these questions and manifestos might show a way forward, into a generative design process which hopes to ‘recapture the mobility of reality’ and admit time into architecture. A design process unfolds at the crossing point of the interelated pairs, where two or more parts are brought together in conversation.

The intention is to “...recapture reality in the very mobility which is its essence” 12 We mentally construct moulds to categorise real events to reconstruct them for ourselves as a mechanism for our understanding. Our inaccuracies in forming these categories cause the moulds to crack.

“It is no longer reality itself that will reconstruct, but only an imitation of the real, or rather, a symbological image; the essence of things always escapes us... we move among relations... we are brought to stand before the Unknowable” 13

12 Bergson, H, The Creative Mind

13 Bergson, H, Introduction in Creatve Evolution, (trans Arthur Mitchell), London, Macmillan, 1911. pp.xi

Hylomorphism/ Transcendent impostition of the architect’s vision

product of the mind

product of the artist

The Self

SHAPING/FREEZING TIME

Objective Truth

Functional Determinism

Material Self Ordering/ organic growth/ emergence

product of matter

product of culture

Society

SHAPED THROUGH TIME

Perceptual understandings

Contingency

interstices /points of contact within this spectrum bring about a generative process

“The relationship between the absence of use… and the sense of freedom, of ex-pectancy, is fundamental to the evocative potential of the city’s terrains vagues’.. Void, absence, yet also promise – the space of the possible”14

The evocative, transformative potential of Sheffield’s terrains vagues allows the values of SED to be reconstructed as an alternative symbolic image describing an emergent system of urban development.

SED embodies the most pertinent theories, questions and manifestos arising from my studies. The process described in the “The Story of SED & the forgot-ten lands of the Wicker” attempts to work into time. In giving the design brief a time base a continuity between past, present and future is maintained. Events, temporary projects and major building projects are located in space and time in order to simulate a process of emergence, releasing potentials normally hid-den in the contemporary system of development.

The format of the story simulates a conversation between the client organisa-tion, the rational/ functionalist architectural or <site> considerations, and the perceptual and therefore subjective rea dings of a place. These ‘voices’ are assimilated through conversation in the creation of architectural strategies & the unfolding of a new design process.

This design process is perhaps more important than the formal architectural solutions/ products which I suggest. The following narrative is not prescriptive and can only be considered a simulation of such practices; it is little more than a story of how things might be different.

12 Ignasi Sola Morales Rubio, Terrain Vague, MIT 1996

2009

2012

2014

2019









MAMACafe ...19

WorkshopDoor ...21




ThefollowingpagesprojecttheactivitiesofSEDanditscontingentgroupsthroughtimeandoverMedium,LargeandeXtra-Largescales

Itrepresentsanoverviewofthestrategywhichistheprincipleframeworkofmyde-signprocess.Inthiswaythedesignbriefiswrittenovertime,whilethesiteisconceivedatarangeofscalesandspheresofinfluence,recognisingthemulti-layerednatureofthespace.

2019 2025

1.Architectural Salvage Yard opens, collecting, processing and distributing reclaimed building materials from the Sheffield area, targeting the swathes of industrial wasteland from Stocksbridge to Rotherham.

2.Penny Elevator reopens giving access to the wilder-ness greenspace on top of the viaduct. Phytoremediation of contaminated areas and threads of planting to follow the pedestrian and cycle bypass.

3.Pilot Self-Build house & workshop built at low devel-opment cost after negotiations with Sheffield City Council and landowners Network Rail. The site continues to be developed for a mix of tenures and uses, largely residential with some workshops and live-work units.

4.Sheffield Ecological Development Founda-tion developed inside Spital Hill Works, growing to become a registered social landlord and development company using a ‘social enterprise’ business model.

5.Tramlines laid parallel commercial rail line on Wood-head route to complete a loop service from Wadsley Bridge to the tram depot at this location (5). A surfaced pedestrian and cycle route is built running parallel to this.

6.Ambiguous Land secured for further self- and as-sisted-build projects.

7.Allotment Bungalows built in small numbers & dispersed amongst the informal phytoremediating landscaping projects to follow the tram/cycle/pedestrian bypass.

8. Wicker Tram Stop is built, accessed by the Penny Elevator and through the refurbished Victoria Station Entrance Building built into the viaduct.

9/ Fox Road Tramstop is built giving access to the tram network from Pitsmoor and the newly emerging develop-ment at Bridgehouses.

10. Neepsend Tram Stop built to is built to give ac-cess to industrial areas which are to be redeveloped to include residential land uses & the large scale redevelopment of the ski-slopes site.

11. Wilderness greenspace grows with low density allotment bungalows integrated into the planning.

13. Rutland Road Tram Stop built providing access to high density, commercial development spreading from Kel-ham Island. Also giving better access to industrial areas and allowing the city centre to be bypassed en route to the Lower Don Valley. Further land is secured for self- and assisted-build projects.

14. Train link radius built to allow local and regional services to follow the woodhead route, relieving congestion on the principle line heading north from Sheffield, and giving a ½ hour connection to Manchester.

16. Congestion at Sheffield Central (Midland) Station neces-sitates the rebuilding of Victoria Station as a second city centre station and interchange.

17. The nature of terrains vagues brings about growth renewal and change which emerge from the widely drawn and polyvalent conditions of site & place.

2009

2010

2015

2020

1.Architectural Salvage Yard opens, collecting, processing and distributing reclaimed building materials from the Sheffield area, targeting the swathes of industrial wasteland from Stocksbridge to Rotherham.

2.Penny Elevator reopens giving access to the wilder-ness greenspace on top of the viaduct. Phytoremediation of contaminated areas and threads of planting to follow the pedestrian and cycle bypass.

3.Pilot Self-Build house & workshop built at low devel-opment cost after negotiations with Sheffield City Council and landowners Network Rail. The site continues to be developed for a mix of tenures and uses, largely residential with some workshops and live-work units.

4.Sheffield Ecological Development Founda-tion developed inside Spital Hill Works, growing to become a registered social landlord and development company using a ‘social enterprise’ business model.

5.Tramlines laid parallel commercial rail line on Wood-head route to complete a loop service from Wadsley Bridge to the tram depot at this location (5). A surfaced pedestrian and cycle route is built running parallel to this.

6.Ambiguous Land secured for further self- and as-sisted-build projects.

7.Allotment Bungalows built in small numbers & dispersed amongst the informal phytoremediating landscaping projects to follow the tram/cycle/pedestrian bypass.

8. Wicker Tram Stop is built, accessed by the Penny Elevator and through the refurbished Victoria Station Entrance Building built into the viaduct.

9/ Fox Road Tramstop is built giving access to the tram network from Pitsmoor and the newly emerging develop-ment at Bridgehouses.

10. Neepsend Tram Stop built to is built to give ac-cess to industrial areas which are to be redeveloped to include residential land uses & the large scale redevelopment of the ski-slopes site.

11. Wilderness greenspace grows with low density allotment bungalows integrated into the planning.

13. Rutland Road Tram Stop built providing access to high density, commercial development spreading from Kel-ham Island. Also giving better access to industrial areas and allowing the city centre to be bypassed en route to the Lower Don Valley. Further land is secured for self- and assisted-build projects.

14. Train link radius built to allow local and regional services to follow the woodhead route, relieving congestion on the principle line heading north from Sheffield, and giving a ½ hour connection to Manchester.

16. Congestion at Sheffield Central (Midland) Station neces-sitates the rebuilding of Victoria Station as a second city centre station and interchange.

17. The nature of terrains vagues brings about growth renewal and change which emerge from the widely drawn and polyvalent conditions of site & place.

map

figure ground

pedestrian flows & carriageways

layersspace-time-scale

XL

L

2025

2009M

2050

2009

2020 2050

1.Architectural Salvage Yard is constructed from materials gathered from site. Methods of design and construc-tion demonstrate the re-use of waste building materials in

producing high quality new buildings.2.Penny Elevator reopens on the Wicker. This community project is given support in the design and sourcing of materials from Sheffield Ecological Development Foundation. Elevator us-ers are charged 1p for the ride.

3.Training Program located at SADACCA community centre and social club. In supplement to existing adult voca-tional training programs available through local organisations, offering expertise on the re-use of materials applied to disci-plines such as carpentry, joinery and metalworking.4.A simple path is made between Brunswick Road and the Penny Elevator, passing over the Wicker Arches providing a shortcut to the Wicker for bikes and pedestrians from Pitsmoor and Burngreave.

5.Dismantled playground is rebuilt as another com-munity project aided through design and material resources from SED.

6.Self Build House & Workshop is successful and land secured for residential development through the strategic part-nership project Bridgehouses Radical Passive Housing BRPH.

7.Rail/Canal/Road link service with static crane allows transfer of transported materials to reclaim yard and canal freight services are offered to other interdependent industries in the Sheffield/ Rotherham area.

8.Where Spital Hill Works fronts onto the street, the ground floor is converted into a shop front for SED, giving it a public presence in the local area, and providing for a small headquarters office.

9.Carpet Shop is refurbished for a start-up business as the first commercial enterprise to receive material resources from CZBS.

10.Path is made between the CZBS reclamation yard and Spital Hill Works. Previously inaccessible land is used for out-door community events, markets and informal gardens. Route over viaduct is improved and a continuous platform / cycle path is built over the Wicker Arches.

11.River Don is made accessible, stepping stones and paths made on the shallow river bed.

12.Tram/ Cycle/Pedestrian bypass connects Fox Road, Bridgehouses, Wicker, Blast Lane and to be built in con-junction with the SED medium density residential development on top of the Viaduct.

14.Spital Hill Works refurbished as the purpose-de-signed premises for SEDs activities, including Trainign and Research workshops, Administration offices, community meet-ing rooms, SED Community Design Services, and ready-made spaces available for small enterprises.

15.Sat 4m above the new ringroad, Bridgehouses Radical Passive offers a range of housing typologies and tenures with a mix of townhouses low-cost housing, social hous-ing and community self-build schemes, designed and managed through SEDs BRPH

16.Recording Studios resource develompetn and de-sign expertise as well as material from SED CZBS to economi-cally refurbish an industrial building on Nursery Street.

17.Industrial Warehouse built with aid from SED CDS and CZBS

18. Furnicular automatic lift built alongside new pedestri-anised street following the curve of the prominent hillside.

19.Commercial sites providing local services and busi-ness/ commerce functions are developed through SED which address sites which are normally unattractive to developers.

20.Awkward sites and in-between places are sought which can offer opportunities or improve local connectivity within the locale of the Wicker.

21.Cycle hire station linked to Nunnery Square Park and Ride. Visitors can hire bikes to explore the city centre.22.Victoria Station reopens, rebuilt in the location of the former building, demolished 1989. Linking Lincoln, Worksop, Derby, Sheffield, Manchester and Liverpool as well as local services to Oughtibridge, Stocksbridge and Peniston.

23.Continued development increases the density and diversity of this ‘lost land’ bringing cohesion and softening the lines ten-sion.

24.To the south east of the Arches the large expanses of land previously associated with the railway are populated with individual and paired single storey properties with allotment gardens, desirable as alternative social housing. And giving the new informal public realm of gardens and wilderness green-space the benefits of 24 hour residential occupancy.

25.The expansion of Sheffield City centre which has occurred partially as a result of the moving of the ringroad and the open-ing of Victoria Station has repopulated the Wicker with a diverse range of people who continue to pass through this ancient ap-proach to the city from the east . 50 years on, the repopulation of this point of rupture on the northern edge of the city centre has created a strong, but permeable boundary to the north. The distinct landmark of the Wicker Arches takes on a new life, re-established from the conditions of the site and place.

2009

2012

2014

2019

1.Architectural Salvage Yard is constructed from materials gathered from site. Methods of design and construc-tion demonstrate the re-use of waste building materials in

producing high quality new buildings.2.Penny Elevator reopens on the Wicker. This community project is given support in the design and sourcing of materials from Sheffield Ecological Development Foundation. Elevator us-ers are charged 1p for the ride.

3.Training Program located at SADACCA community centre and social club. In supplement to existing adult voca-tional training programs available through local organisations, offering expertise on the re-use of materials applied to disci-plines such as carpentry, joinery and metalworking.4.A simple path is made between Brunswick Road and the Penny Elevator, passing over the Wicker Arches providing a shortcut to the Wicker for bikes and pedestrians from Pitsmoor and Burngreave.

5.Dismantled playground is rebuilt as another com-munity project aided through design and material resources from SED.

6.Self Build House & Workshop is successful and land secured for residential development through the strategic part-nership project Bridgehouses Radical Passive Housing BRPH.

7.Rail/Canal/Road link service with static crane allows transfer of transported materials to reclaim yard and canal freight services are offered to other interdependent industries in the Sheffield/ Rotherham area.

8.Where Spital Hill Works fronts onto the street, the ground floor is converted into a shop front for SED, giving it a public presence in the local area, and providing for a small headquarters office.

9.Carpet Shop is refurbished for a start-up business as the first commercial enterprise to receive material resources from CZBS.

10.Path is made between the CZBS reclamation yard and Spital Hill Works. Previously inaccessible land is used for out-door community events, markets and informal gardens. Route over viaduct is improved and a continuous platform / cycle path is built over the Wicker Arches.

11.River Don is made accessible, stepping stones and paths made on the shallow river bed.

12.Tram/ Cycle/Pedestrian bypass connects Fox Road, Bridgehouses, Wicker, Blast Lane and to be built in con-junction with the SED medium density residential development on top of the Viaduct.

14.Spital Hill Works refurbished as the purpose-de-signed premises for SEDs activities, including Trainign and Research workshops, Administration offices, community meet-ing rooms, SED Community Design Services, and ready-made spaces available for small enterprises.

15.Sat 4m above the new ringroad, Bridgehouses Radical Passive offers a range of housing typologies and tenures with a mix of townhouses low-cost housing, social hous-ing and community self-build schemes, designed and managed through SEDs BRPH

16.Recording Studios resource develompetn and de-sign expertise as well as material from SED CZBS to economi-cally refurbish an industrial building on Nursery Street.

17.Industrial Warehouse built with aid from SED CDS and CZBS

18. Furnicular automatic lift built alongside new pedestri-anised street following the curve of the prominent hillside.

19.Commercial sites providing local services and busi-ness/ commerce functions are developed through SED which address sites which are normally unattractive to developers.

20.Awkward sites and in-between places are sought which can offer opportunities or improve local connectivity within the locale of the Wicker.

21.Cycle hire station linked to Nunnery Square Park and Ride. Visitors can hire bikes to explore the city centre.22.Victoria Station reopens, rebuilt in the location of the former building, demolished 1989. Linking Lincoln, Worksop, Derby, Sheffield, Manchester and Liverpool as well as local services to Oughtibridge, Stocksbridge and Peniston.

23.Continued development increases the density and diversity of this ‘lost land’ bringing cohesion and softening the lines ten-sion.

24.To the south east of the Arches the large expanses of land previously associated with the railway are populated with individual and paired single storey properties with allotment gardens, desirable as alternative social housing. And giving the new informal public realm of gardens and wilderness green-space the benefits of 24 hour residential occupancy.

25.The expansion of Sheffield City centre which has occurred partially as a result of the moving of the ringroad and the open-ing of Victoria Station has repopulated the Wicker with a diverse range of people who continue to pass through this ancient ap-proach to the city from the east . 50 years on, the repopulation of this point of rupture on the northern edge of the city centre has created a strong, but permeable boundary to the north. The distinct landmark of the Wicker Arches takes on a new life, re-established from the conditions of the site and place.

zones of permanence

listed buildings

Our group analysis found that zones of rutpture and friction created an impasse at the northern edge of the city centre. The many lanes of ringroad, the tall retaining walls, high fences, rail lines, rivers, canals and terrains vagues have the effect of stretch-ing apart the mentally felt distances between places in a similar way in which guy debord and the situationists found that flows of mo-torized traffic seemed to increase the sepa-ration and distinction of ‘ambient unities’.

The situationists experienced Paris as a series of distinct unities within a psychogeographic environment. In the Psy-chogeographic Guide of Paris (below), Guy Debord found the mentally felt distances between the islands of the urban archipel were inconsistent with the cartesian grid of the map, stretching them apart to represent this relationship.

Discourse on the passions of love: psychogeographic de-scents of drifting and localisation of ambient unities, 1955, Guy Debord

2019 2025

2025

2009M

layersspace-time-scale

2025

2009M

may 2009Construction of Reclamation/ Architectural

Salvage Yard by social entrepreneurs CZBS. Carbon zero development is as-

sisted in the local area and materials grants for local community projects and

small businesses are made available

july 2012Pilot Carbon Zero House completed.

First vistors arrive the following week and begin to be sold off plan with a range of internal planning options and space re-

quirements. Collaboration with local RSLs and residential estate agents to promote

self- and assisted-build options in both social and private housing sectors

colour blue deep blue for roads and shade buildings

as light blue objects

09:3025/04/13

SED Community Design move into new facility at Spital Hill Works

06:1205/06/14

First Supertram passes over the Wicker Arches on its maiden voyage, linking

North Sheffield directly to the centre in 15 minuites, cutting equivalent bus journey

times in half.

Spital Hill Shops

Spital Hill Works

Penny Elevator

Bridgehouses

CZBS Reclamation Yard

Tunnel

Burngreave & Spital Hill

february 2nd 2010

A driver waitng at a red light notices the new building s on top of the retain-

ing wall and remembering the name ‘Bridgehouses’

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MAMACafe ...19

WorkshopDoor ...21




Thefollowingpagesattempttoshowhowarchitecturalstrategiescanbeusedtothebenefitoflocalcommuni-ties.Thefollowingstorypresentsamodelofsharedauthorshipofthebuiltenvironmentwhichincorporatesthepotentialofprofessionalexpertiseinadifferentway.Eventsandprocessesarehighlightedwhichcomeasaresultofcommunicationandparticipationinthelocalurbanenvironment,stimulatedbytheactivitiesofSheffieldEcologicalDevelopmentFoundation

12th may 2009

A delivery of CHS steel sections arrives by rail at CZBS reclamation yard. The 4m

lengths are salvaged from the demolition of a warehouse at Dunfields, Neepsend, They are to be reused as structural sup-ports for staircases at Bridghouses pas-

sive housing development

august 2008: SED and Uni-versity ‘Live Project’ partici-pate with Burngreave Primary school to renovate playgroundfebruary 2009: CZBS rents site from network rail & begins to gather salvaged architec-tural and construction compo-nents. A temporary shelter and cabin is constructed in two weeks in early March.

june 2009: Footpath is made from compacted railway bal-last, upgrading an existing well trodden route and improving access to Burngreave and Pitsmoor

November 2009: CZBS begin to use former railway tunnel to store steel sections and sheets

CZBSReclamationYardjanuary 2009

This location is leased by CZBS (Carbon Zero Building Supplies), chosen as an experiment in the inhabitation of terrains vagues.

“A lost wilderness space lies tantalisingly close to the bustle of the city below, seeming to fall out of existence within the reality of con-temporary systems of development”“With funding from central government, Sheffield Ecological Development Foundation has the remit to increase the carbon efficiency of new devel-opments in the Sheffield area. As a first step SED tackles the supply chain of building materials. From small DIY projects to larger housing or com-mercial developments, CZBS offers a range of reclaimed building prod-ucts and services which address the growing concern for environmentally sustainable development. Materials are sourced from the neighbouring industrial and residential districts which are specifically unsuitable for refurbishment. Brick concrete stone, structural steel, timber battens slate, corrugated metal, are some of the materials suitable for relcamation and reprocessing in this context. These are locally abundant materials which are normally sourced from national/ global suppliers. However through careful demolition/ reclamation processes many of these materials can be sourced instead from buildings which are vacant or scheduled to be demolished in the local area.”

A small office, workshop and covered external storage for collected materials is constructed after gathering and re-assembling materi-als already available on the site. This dictates that stone, hardcore, earth and timber are to make up the primary pallette of materials. Concrete sewer pipe sections which have been used to block the entrance to the tunnel are cut and used to create a waterproof bar-rel vaulted roof structure which is built into the hillside.

“Above the rocky outcrop which encloses the reclamation site to the north west stands the repetitive forms of a 1980s housing project which define the edge of the burngreave and pitsmoor neighbourhoods. A train passes six times a week bringing coal, steel ingots and supllies between Stocks-bridge Steelworks and Roherham. Below the rail line is the newly built re-taining wall to the ring road which reaches 15 metres at its highest point. Small parcels of land are left over between the multilane stretches of carriageway and traffic junctions. This topography creates a hard imper-meable boundary, the one route across this boundary from burngreave passes the edge of the site and leads under the railway to the ringroad.”

The tunnel is cleared of the rubble which has been used to block the entrance. This rubble (largely railway ballast) is used as the sub base for a newly made footpath where it passes the site. The tun-nel is then prepared for use as a store for long sections of materials such as steel and timber. A boom crane system moves materials along the tunnel, making use of an existing connection to the base-ment of Spital Hill Works.

The impression on the landscape is discrete at first and the site remains wild and hidden from sight.

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Carefully processed reclaimed materi-als can offer the same performance as newly manufactured materials. The use of reclaimed bulding materials is not always straighforward, as in the case of basic masonry elements, and there is a need for research into reclama-tion processing technologies. SED Research focuses on the development of this technology and contributes to regularly published guidance.

On a journey down the nearby M1, it is clear to see that the frequency of HGV movements associated with construc-tion projects has risen following the increased demand from the booming contruction industry. Not only does this contribute to chronic congestion prob-lems and the accelerated deteriorartion of road surfaces; millions of cubic me-tres of concrete, and millions of tonnes of steel are transported with a very high impact on our carbon emmisions. The manufacture of new construction materials accounts for a significant proportion of the UK’s carbon emis-sions and other pollutants. By removing the need to source materials through this system, SED allows us to move away from dependence on national and global markets. It is the particularly heavy-weight building materials (often having the greatest environmental im-pact) which are prioritised for reclama-tion by CZBS.

The building of the Wicker Arches via-duct in 1848 made the Bridgehouses rail tunnel defunct only 50 years after it was built. In 2007, the tunnel entrance is eerie day or night and feels far removed from the city. The panoramic outlook to the south west over the city centre is enclosed to the north east by the steep escarpment. The ridge forms exposed prominentries and sheltered ‘coves’ in the escarpement which is overdgrown with 50 - 150 year old deciduous trres including birch, oak, and maple.

At a crossing point of transporta-tion routes, the site is offered very good links by road rail and canal. Both the Woodhead rail line and the Canal Basin (linked to the site via the Viaduct) remain in occasional use for freight deliveries. This existing XL infrastructure is exploited to further reduce the impact of transportation of materials within the local area and allows sustainable supply of materials further afield with direct rail routes to Manchester, Leeds, Lincolnshire and Derbyshire.M

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15:1525/05/12

Renewal of Spital Hill Works continues with the erection of four townhouses at

Handley Street.

february 2nd 2010

A driver waitng at a red light notices the new buildings on top of the retaining wall,

remembering the name ‘Bridgehouses’

january 2010: SED CZBS con-trubute reclaimed timber and eco-paint for the refurbishment SADACCA community centre on the Wicker.

march 2010: Trees are planted and phytoremediat-ing crops are cultivated on the vacant site, removing indusrial pollutant compounds from the topsoil. The site is not fenced off and remains publicly ac-cessible.

february 2009: During a meeting at SED Communiity Design Services, an architect’s sketches help self-build clients to address the site conditions and develop the clients design brief.

BridgehousesPassiveRadicalfebruary 2010

Bridgehouses Passive Radical is formed and shares the site at Bridgehouses with CZBS.

“Framed through the passenger window, this is the perspective of a driver stopped at traffic lights as they pass through the Wicker, traveling from Hillsborough to Meadowhall”“Across the railway tracks the former site of bridgehouses station has remained undeveloped and seems to have been forgotten about in urban strategic plans. Perhaps the site appears to be inaccessible because of its elevated dislocated position, hemmed in by the ringroad, the river don and the adjacent 1970s housing projects. SEDs remit is to tackle the tem-porary and changeable constraints which only limit the potential of sites within the terms of the contemporary system.”

The major practical design constraints, primarily road/rail noise, se-curity and access are resolved through careful design which must be both innovative and cost effective in order to be succesful.

“The development markets itself to the captive audience waiting at red lights, exploiting a momentary pause in a journey which is travelled at an average speed of 40mph. This place becomes a focal point on the shore-line of our terrains vagues, observed from a position within the sea of sys-tematised space. This set of traffic lights sits on the former route of Bruns-wick road which once emerged from under the viaduct. This former rail bridge becomes a gateway to the bridgehouses site, Bridgehouses Tram Stop and the pedestrian and cycle route to Burngreave and Pitsmoor.”

If a standard suburban style layout were adopted here, the site would fail to support a comfortable, safe, ‘domestic’ atmosphere. The site constraints are too strong to be ignored. The single ‘bookend’ stone building protects the development from this hard exposed edge and the scheme is designed with sheltered internal courtyard gardens. This bookend building houses recycling and communal storage facilities, cycle racks and garden waste bins. Ivy is trained and trees planted against the flanking wall to enclose a small public garden and the Bridgehouses Tram Stop. A cycle and pedestrian route follows the tramlines over the Viaduct to connect with the Penny Elevator and the Cycle Hire facility on the Wicker.

Within this narrative, the use of sites which are normally unattractive to developers relies on the integration of research into the proc-ess of city development; the challenge for SED is to research and develop an effective solution to carbon neutral housing specific to the Sheffield area. The added value derived from the development, as a test-bed for a widespread strategy, effectively out-performs the contemporary system of development, offering tangible social gains which are also economically sustainable in the long-term. Perhaps most important is the pioneering enthusiasm of the organisation itself: by exceeding the money-making incentive of private sector development, SED can achieve far more than an equivalently sized

The prospect of rapid change and an uncertain future make demands on us as designers to be sensitive to the operational lives of buildings, however, there is a paradox between designing for flexibility and adaptability while also designing for longevity and permanence. Different constructional methods inately suggest levels of permanence. Large fragments of fair faced stone scattered around the site are used to build the permament layer of the site. For permanence stone is used for gateposts, pedestrian routes and public areas, which may have a lifespan of 200 years or more. In the case of impermanent elements lighter materials or kit-of-parts constructions are used. We know that untreated timber below about 30mm will have a relatively short lifespan before it decays and distintegrates. Fencing and bound-ary treatments use green timber gath-ered from selectively felled trees on site, and allows for layouts and styles to be changed as new occupants pref-erences dictate. Green timber comes at no material cost, but does have to be replaced every ten years or so. If a few trees are planted around the site with the same frequency, this becomes an infinitely renewable resource. However, this is ultimately reliant on a continuecd duty of care by the inhabitants/ owners.

The landscape changes with inhabita-tion, and a large part of the site which remains vacant is planted with phytore-mediating crops which condition the earth, improving the natural ecologies of the site. Heavy metal deposits present on this post-industrial site can be neutralised over 10-20 years through the cultivation of crops such as cabbages and sunflowers.

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march 14th 2011

Staff at SED community design services clock off for the weekend. The library as-sociated with the offices, and the recep-

tion remains open over the weekend.

august 2012: former ware-house is developed as a music studio and rehearsal room complex. SED Community Design Services offer design team expertise at an agreed fee.

october 2013: Cycle hire opens on top of the wicker to coincide with the opening of the new cycle and tram route. cycles are hired and can be taken in the penny elevator to the wicker high street below.

february 2011: The letter box to Spital Hill Works from Han-dley St reads ‘AUTORADS’. Through the letter box you can see a dry oak floor which will be stripped way and recondi-tioned for reuse.

SEDcommunitydesignservice

march 2011

The western extreme of the Spital Hill Works complex borders a wild and rugged overgrown terrain which has never been built on . This prominent elevation is made twice as prominent with the design and construction of SED’s offices, conceived in 2008 and first occupied in 2016. The floors built above the existing roof level are occupied before the lower floors are renovated.

“When we considered how we might go about building at the bounda-ries of Terrains Vagues, the first questions raised concerned the bi-nary arborified/ rhizomatic; “If you truly favour rhizomatic processes of production, then why are you attempting to build here at all?” The very attempt to transform terrains vagues automatically invoked a sense that our intervention was foreign to the place which we had experi-enced only momentarily . In which case, “Why claim that you are doing something different, when you are merely disguising a very normal design process with a cloak of radical theories” . The practice of architecture in academia presents obstacles to the pursuance of a bot-tom-up approach to architecture, and is tied to ideals of artistic genius and heroism bound to platonic form and a purely a priori concept of production.”

The cavernous shell of the existing three storey block is cleared and populated with the columns of the reclaimed steel structure supporting the 3rd 4th and 5th floor offices above. A lift door forms the ground level entrance to the internal envelope from the semi-ex-ternal space of the existing complex. This lift is later to be enclosed with a solar chimney-form atrium which will drive the natural ven-tilation of the public building and offices which share this vertical circulation space. Level access is achieved from the rear at Hand-ley Street, and this is the temporary primary public entrance to the SEDF.

“Initially, there is tension in this positioning. The proximity to the un-made ground is key. The temptation to pave or gravel a strip of ground around the edge of the building is avoided. Later, when the new inhabitants have settled in, the public focus will shift to the lower levels which open onto Spital Hill. The constant movement of people up and down spital hill draws the eye, but as yet the physical connection is not made. At first, the move is tentative.”

Except for cattle shed which appears on the first Ordnance Survey maps of industrialised Sheffield c1830. Although the shed no longer exists, it still appears on the current OS map: the site of the shed was excavated 9m into the bedrock rock to prepare the route of the inner relief road, completed in October 2007. The last civil engineering work of this magnitude was the construction of the Wicker Viaduct in 1848.

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The symposium entitled ‘Architecture as Initiative’ held at the Architec-tural Association 13/02/2007 raised a number of pertinent questions;

Where is the project? How can the strategic implementation of a socially engaged project be designed - across different scales- and what kind of practice does it frame? Is the role of architecture to provide a vision, or the means towards the formulation of one? How is that vision articulated strategi-cally rather than as an image or a promise? Can the open or participatory project only exist outside the institu-tions which shape our environment? ...Who is the client? What are the reasons, invitations and motivations that lead towards open and participa-tory projects and who plays a role in them? How do we set up models for a shared authorship of the built environ-ment without loosing the potential of expertise? How are existing hierarchies negotitated? How does one keep a project open and dynamic, and the process away from the idea of a final, static result?

This project attempts to find some answers to these questions. SED Community Design Services suggests a model for the shared authorship of the built environment which maintains the potential of professional expertise. However, existing hierarchies constrain professional behaviour to work comis-sioned within the existing system. The potential of the voluntary, or semi-vol-untary sector is exploited here so that professionals are offered an alternative outlet for their skills and expertise.

Western extreme of the Spital Hill Works complex, January 2008 (as existing)

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april 20th 2012

Renewal of Spital Hill Works continues with the erection of four townhouses at

Handley Street.

WICKER-medievalgatewaytoSheffeid

SpitalHillWorks-HomeofSheffieldEcologicalDevelopmentFoundation

6No. Appartments

SED Housing As-sociation

Denholme Free Church

Landscaped public garden

(maintained by Church)

4No. Townhouses

SEDF Community Design Services

MAMA Function Room

november 2011: Selective demolition of the burnt out Handley Street facade by SED CZBS. The Brick, Stone, Steel angles, and timber seen here are all reused after processing at the CZBS salvage yard

HandleyStreetapril 2012

Sheffield Ecological Development Foundation completes internal fit out of the first two of 8No. three and hour bedroom family houses for sale in the private sector. SED Housing Association manages and maintains housing for social tenants in the Spital Hill / Wicker area of Sheffield. Some of these are renovated properties, and some of these are newly built as part of the larger Bridgehouses development. Materials are sourced through CZBS (Carbon Zero Building Supplies). For example, brick panelling cut from con-demned buildings in the ‘growth areas’ of the city centre are used as basic structural masonry components.

Built over a 9m high embankment the tall range to the north of the site is to be partially demolished. The site is initially too large for its developers; to renovate the whole thing would cost too much to consider at an early stage. However, for the building to be partially renovated, the whole of the structure of the buildings surrounding the courtyard must be made safe.

“To develop this building is to move into unfamilar territory. in 2008, the wilderness wasteland surrounding the building to the North West extends to the boundary of Spital Hill through this dark, vacant wreck. Squatters find abandon within its walls, able to feel completely cut off and cut out. Across the courtyard the North Eastern part of the building continues to be in use. Talking to the leader of MAMA African Womens Group, which inhabits the street frontage onto Spital Hill, I was told of how, on cold nights in winter, squatters climb above the roofspace to find warmth, demolishing the roof and ceiling in the process.”

For safety, but also to prevent further deterioration of the build-ing fabric and deter occasional squatters, this block is partially demolshed and given a thick concrete deck which becomes part of the Church’s landscaping project. It is intended to be built back up to three storeys when neccesary. Structure is designed to give flex-ibility to future structural design on these premises. This construc-tion is to be categorised as part of the permanent site structure. In a similar way that the Viaduct created an almost indelible impres-sion on the city, this is a decision which sets the spatial superstruc-ture of the site, with the intention that the deck will be there for the Extra-Long-Term. Not immediately, but over time, these permanent elements become more a part of the topography of the terrain or landscape rather than belonging to the ever-changing built environ-ment which they support.

Where the contemporary system of development raises the barri-cades and turns their back, SEDF identifies these places as terrains vagues, and works at these lines of friction and rupture.

We territorialise space as soon as we step foot on it.

Careri walkscapes

The terrains vagues are changed, and indeed they perhaps cease to be terrains vagues through this inhabita-tion. However, the relationship between site and dweller remains symbiotic and created within an alternative process which demonstrates a more profound connection to our built environment.

KRAX

“KRAX investiga, conecta y potencia la creatividad urbana frente a ‘grietas’ en la ciudad” “KRAX investigates, connects and em-powers urban creativity that responds to ‘cracks’ in the city”

City Mine(d)

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september 18th 2013

SED opens shop on Spital Hill to promote its activities in the lcoal area to passers by

march 2010: Trees are plant-ed and phytoremediating crops are cultivated on the va-cant site. The site is not fenced off and remains publicly ac-cessible.

SpitalHillShopsseptember 2013

A vacant shop is rented and renovated to promote SEDs activities within the local area, it provides an opportunity for anyone walk-ing past and go in and find out about CZBS materials grants and services as well as SED Community Design Service , Bridgehouses housing development and the letting of space for small businesses and community groups at Spital Hill Works.

Malcom X Bookshop is the first to apply for a materials grant from CZBS. Reclaimed insulation panels, joiners timber and refurbished windows are supplied at half their market value. The tenant carries out the work himself with help from friends.

“Spital Hill is a lively shopping street with shops run by members of the local community. The shops themselves are colourlful and lively but the external fabric of the building is in poor condition and has not been maintained regularly causing damage to stock and internal fabric.”

The landlord funds the replacement of the roof to the single storey units. The work is carried out by SED who use the project to devel-op techniques and opportunities for a fully reclaimed roof build-up.

“Spital Hill Works - also known as Lion Works - on Spital Hill was also sold for £150,000. Let’s hope that this fine but badly damaged building will now be renovated so that when you come up Spital Hill from town, you no longer feel you’re entering a war zone”?

Rather than giving the local community a building, such as a com-munity centre or social club, A minor architecture might respond to many smaller issues with existing buildings, listening to the users of buildings in the local area and assisting with their needs in relation to the management, operation and renewal of their premises. For example the first steps taken at Spital Hill Works include installing a lift and repairing the roof.

?from Burngreave Messenger Nov 2004. See Appendix.

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The new economics foundation (NEF) promotes the growth of local economies and seeks to provide financial services to all. Towards the same goal, SED seeks to provide design and building services to smaller organisations who are normally excluded from mainstream development systems.

clone town britain

“Economic systems that favour the large, remote and uniform threaten our local economies and communities, diversity and choice. Creating the right balance between local and global economies will help to increase individual well-being, reduce inequalities and promote environmental sustainability. nef is pushing to fight ghost town britain and relocalise the economy through the local works campaign and by empowering communities through enter-prise and innovation. The tools for local economic renewal help people create their own futures. Our flagship inner city 100 project shows the power and dynamism of inner city business, and our work on access to finance addresses the problem of people being excluded from mainstream finance.”

ghost town britain

“The decline in neighbourhood shops and services is sounding the death knell for Britain's local economies. A healthy local economy should reflect the vision and passion of the local community. nef aims to equip communities with the tools they need to achieve their vision. Enterprise and Innovation generates practical strategies for supporting and developing enterprises that create and retain wealth in local communi-ties. At nef we believe that appropriate and affordable financial services should be available to all”

from http://neweconomics.org

Like the NEF, SED works in partner-ship with a variety of community groups, voluntary and statutory sector partners, developing programmes of work which explore the ways in which local communities, the voluntary and community sector and public services might develop through co-production. That is, in mutually beneficial ways that acknowledge and reward local 'lay' experience while continuing to value professional expertise.

june 22nd 2014

Mama host events for local groups in the evenings

april 2012: MAMA cafe reo-pens after a three day closure while equipement is trans-ferred to the new premises

february 2013: The internal courtyard visually links the dif-ferent user groups and main-tains natural daylighting.

mamacaféjune 2014

In their 2007 premises Breaks-ins through the roof were frequent and Amina Souleiman, leader of the group was looking to move the various clubs & training courses, cafe and small office elsewhere. SEDs involvement with the building changes her mind. With a long term concern for the building MAMA is an important stakeholder and becomes part of SEDs client group for the development of Spital Hill Works.

“By now, Mama’s facilities have been fully renovated & their café is moved from its upstairs backroom location in the former Victorian office building fronting onto Spital Hill. Instead of moving away altogether, they move to the ground floor, closer to the street, but more importantly they move into the terrain vague which had previously caused them so much anxiety. The nature of the space has changed as it has been gradually inhabited, working into the existing site and builkding fabric, shaping it to the mutual benefit of its long- and short-term users.”

The MAMA cafe provides an informal permeable public frontage to the Spital Hill Works complex. From the cafe, the activities of all the building users can be comprehended in some way. The cafes clien-tele includes the staff of SED CDS, BPR, SED research, temporary tenants, visitors to the building and passing custom from spital hill. It is hired out in the evenings for social events and small performances. Function rooms at first floor and an external terrace allow the cafe to be run in parallel with semi-outdoor functions for up to 300 people.

Mama runs a catering service for local events and needs vehicular access and ground floor kitchens for ease of transportation of prepared food. Mama employs three people at any one time in the cafe and is managed from the Mama offices in the rooms above. Ami-na Souleiman runs a Business training program for local women which is funded through Burngreave New Deal (BNDfC) funding. However this funding will run out by 2012 and Mama must find other ways of supporting itself. The expanded cafe allows them to do this. The existing function rooms at first floor are used weekly for a kids football club, a drumming group, art group and 1-5s playgroup. These groups continue to use the building as it is refurbished, and construction/ decorating is phased to reduce interruption.

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december 30th 2015

Workshop used for training and research into passive design and reclamation tech-

nologies

october 2014: SED Research facility provides a base for research into alternative tech-nologies focusing on process-ing reclaimed materials into composite building systems.

february 2015: Glazed atrium is built linking several building user groups together allowing facilities to be shared.

WorkshopDoorSEDResearch

december 2015

Used as an on-site construction workshop initially, this space is lo-cated to give good road access, but also gives an active backdrop to the public areas of the building. Formerly used as a tooling works and then an auto repairs workshop, this brick vaulted space is the largest open area on the site and has ideal proportions for use as a construction materials workshop. The existing brick facade is opened up to improve natural daylighting.

“The two levels above accomodate administration, research and training labs and two project offices designed for teams of up to 5 researchers. Academic and industry-based research projects are housed here on short-hold leases. The workshops and laborotories are a shared resource, also being used for training programmes run by SED. The 5m clear height of the workshop and HGV access to the rear Workshop Door ensures there is enough manoeuvring space for load-ing of large constructions.”

The workshop is used to develop a reclaimed materials compos-ite cladding panel from corrugated steel and reclaimed insulation from the already succesfull sheffield made insulation products from ‘Sheffield Recovery Insulation Ltd.’ The factory conditions allow high precision components to be made which are then tested on structural systems at the bridgehouses site. The workshop is man-aged by SED Research who oversee the timetabling of the facility allowing it to be hired by various groups in the education/ voluntary sector. Training programs range from night classes to week long courses in subjects such as welding, joinery and window refurbish-ment.

Global/ Local: Made-in-Sheffield

Expertise and technology drawn from around the world enable buildings and building products to be made-in-Shef-field, making the most of global and local expertise and resource.

SED works within a web of partner organisations in the Sheffield area. Association develops between suplliers and contractors who adopt reclama-tion technologies into specification and construction processes. One of several such businesses already existing in Sheffield, thermal insulation supllier and social enterprprise Recovery Insulation provides a model in the creation of locally-based materials supply chains.

“Through the Sheffield-based Re-covery Insulation Project, surplus cotton-based textiles are not only being recycled instead of finding their way into landfill, but the end product is envi-ronmentally friendly insulation material that conserves energy.”

The organisation has social aims to “Preserve natural resources and in-crease awareness of energy efficiency” through trading activities including the manufacture and distribution of environmentally-friendly thermal and acoustic insulation material. Recovery Insulation is a for-profit company by share, with two directors.

from www.socialenterprisemag.co.uk/upload/documents/document28.pdf

In order to achieve performance and quality standards, SED engages in research and development with organi-sations around the UK and around the globe in order to take advantage of changing technological advancements. The Centre for Alternative Technology has developed expertise in various sustainable building technologies, which SED taps into for application in the Sheffield area. For example, Earth Blocks are made of un-stabilised subsoil similar to that required for rammed earth. Blocks are manufac-tured by compressing the earth in a mould. The resulting blocks can be laid like conventional masonary, but using a thin layer of clay slurry as mortar.

Sheffield University Live Projects also use this workshop during six week community building projects, organised through SED. This brings further exper-tise to the local area and aids design participation processes.

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december 30th 2015

october 2014: SED Research facility provides a base for research into alternative tech-nologies focusing on process-ing reclaimed materials into composite building systems.

february 2015: Multi-purpose break-out / exhibition space links studios and offices avail-able for lease to community and voluntary groups

CourtyardSpitalHillWorks

january 2017

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CDS. SEDF Community Design Service

SEDf (Sheffield Ecological Development Foundation )

Atrium (05/2015).A solar chimney drives the natural ventialtion of SEDF, CDS, MAMA

Atrium (02/2011).Ground Floor open access public circulaition incorporating MAMA Cafe

MAMAMAMA East African Womens Group: Cafe, Kitchens, Catering Service, Training Rooms, Start-up units and Function rooms shared with SED

SED ResearchMachine Workshops, Laboratory, Offices

6-12 Handley St. 4No. 3/4 bed houses & 3No. 1/2 bed appartments.

Short-lease studiosBurngreave Festival: Temporary base for festival organisers (Annually, April-August)

Training/ Function RoomsOperated by MAMA for music/ art / nightclasses etc

Shop unitsLet and Maintained by SEDF

SED Housing AssociationReception and Offices

building users (12/05/11)

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Studios

Training Rooms

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Studios

Training Rooms

Shops

CDS. SEDF Community Design Service

SEDf (Sheffield Ecological Development Foundation )

Atrium (05/2015).A solar chimney drives the natural ventialtion of SEDF, CDS, MAMA

Atrium (02/2011).Ground Floor open access public circulaition incorporating MAMA Cafe

MAMAMAMA East African Womens Group: Cafe, Kitchens, Catering Service, Training Rooms, Start-up units and Function rooms shared with SED

SED ResearchMachine Workshops, Laboratory, Offices

6-12 Handley St. 4No. 3/4 bed houses & 3No. 1/2 bed appartments.

Short-lease studiosBurngreave Festival: Temporary base for festival organisers (Annually, April-August)

Training/ Function RoomsOperated by MAMA for music/ art / nightclasses etc

Shop unitsLet and Maintained by SEDF

SED Housing AssociationReception and Offices

building users (12/05/11)

august 2009North Western block is stripped of timber leaving only brick shell. Walls are propped to maintain stability.

Roof is stripped, salvaging slate, timber trusses. Timber roofing battens in poor con-dition are sent to the nearby CHP incinerators for energy recovery.

Timber window frames, floor joists, glazing and ironmon-gery are all salvaged for reuse on site.

november 2011: SED refur-bishes and extends the build-ing, constructing a reclaimed steel frame within the existing brick shell.

A light weight system of re-claimed sheet metal and ten-sile membranes supported on steel cladding rails. Reclaimed sdouble glazing is framed using a clamp system (see details 1 & 2, pp...)

This Block houses the follow-ing:

1. Cafe and catering kitchens.

2. MAMA offices & staff social area.

3. Cafe Toilets

4. Mama enquiries desk

5. CDS offices and meeting rooms.

6. CDS public library - Self-build, reclaimed materials, construction.

7. Central shared WC, shower and changing facilities. SEDF enquiries desk & waiting area.

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april 2011North Eastern block is stripped of timber, slate & steel struc-tures. Structurally unstable central chimneys are demol-ished & bricks reused else-where on site.

Existing concrete floors are carefully removed using dia-mond sawing techniques to produce reclaimed pre-cast concrete ground floor slabs, or crushed for use as hardcore.

june 2012 Denholme Free church is refurbished and external landscaping project integrates shared public space with SED’s Housing Asso-ciation offices and residential developments.

A heavy concrete deck is built over 2 floors below which house SED Research.

This Block houses the follow-ing:

1. SED Research entrance and reception

2. Machine & construction workshop.

3. Materials testing laboratory & offices

4. SED Housing Association

5. 6-8 Handley St; 3 No. Studio Appartments.

6. Link to main building atrium across courtyard

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march 2013Second phase of construction creates a vertical atrium cover-ing the courtyard below. Works as a ventilation stack drawings warm air up and out of the building to prevent summer over-heating.

SED Research extend their premises over two floors to comprising flexible research project offices they can be configures for teams of re-searchers in groups sizes between 4 and 20.

october 2014:Internal court-yard is opened up to Spital Hill public realm by propping the first floor and cutting out the ground floor walls of this range. Steel and Timber Sruc-tures extend the block to three storeys.

This range comprises:

1. MAMA cafe and entrance Sheffield Ecological Develom-ent Foundation.

2. Training and function rooms operated by MAMA .

3. Short-Lease Studios let by SEDf

12

3

may 20159-12 Handley St. constructed using 100% reclaimed materi-als. Passive design principles developed at the bridgehous-es site are employed here to ensure the dwellings are “Car-bon Zero”.

Reclaimed steel structure is designed to be capable of extending the block 3 stroeys above Handley St.

may 2015Glazing System is developed which reuses standard sized panes of glass from double glazed frames up to 30 years old. Cladding consists of a steel cladding rainscreen of reclaimed corrugated metal sheets composited with a ther-mally unbroken insulating core.A Tensile Metal fabric is then stretched over .

october 2014Glazing is clamped vertically. Horizontal glazing joints are made with a silicone sealant, repeated at 900mm centres. Steel is sourced from demoli-tion sites where possible, while more specialist sections which need to be made to measure are sourced locally.

silicone sealant

Black Aluminium channel

APPENDICES:

APPENDIX I:Alternative Practices

Self BuildJon Broome - Self Build - Architecture & Participation

KRAX, City Mined, NEF, DEGW

Wikipedia on A Thousand Plateaus: “In fact, Deleuze and Guattari argued that the entire "book" is not a "book" at all, but a multiplicity of plateaus. Chapters and books are self-contained worlds with be-ginnings and ends; with climaxes that dissipate the accumulated energy. In contrast, in the act of attaining a plateau one might begin at any point (signifying the absence of a strict beginning), and the accumulated energy of the "climb" is not dissippated in a climax, but instead is experienced as one intensity among many (signifying the absence of a strict end).”

Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari Original title Capitalisme et schizophrénie. L'anti-Oedipe Les Éditions de Minuit 1972

“Anti-Œdipus (1972) is a book by the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze and psychoanalyst Félix Guattari. It is the first volume of Capitalism and Schizophrenia, the second volume being A Thousand Plateaus (1980). It presents an eclectic account of human psychology, economics, society, and history, showing how "primitive", "despotic", and "capitalist regimes" differ in their organization of produc-tion, inscription, and consumption. It claims to describe how capitalism ultimately channels all desires through an axiomatic money-based economy, a single-minded form of organization that is abstract, rather than local or material.”

Appendix III: Spital Hill

“Spital Hill leads down to the Wicker Arches which mark the boundary of the city centre. On the right, Spital Hill Works, occupied by the edge tool manufacturers John Sorby from 1823 and then Lockwood Brothers by 1849. The present buildings comprise two long ranges. The two-storey range which has lunettes with ornamental grilles is of 1864-5 by M.E. Hadfield & Son. They were also responsible for the front office block of 1878, three sto-reys with ornamental stone dressings. The taller range of 1891 by M.E. Hadfield, Son & Garland is of four storeys, part with vaulted brick ceilings and set into the hillside.” Pp180

Appendix IV: Wicker

“Wicker is closed by the 1848 viaduct of the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway and its bridge over the street, known as the Wicker Arches. The viaduct has forty arches and is 660 yards long: the arch is 72ft wide and was built of stone from Lord Wharncliffe’s Quarry at Wharncliffe Craggs, by John Fowler, engineer with architects Weightman & Hadfield who were also responsible for Victoria Station (1851) and many other stations along the MS&LR. …On the SE sid, the ashlars side entrance to the demolished Victoria Station. Five bays, the fifth projecting with an archway.”

Appendix IV: or in technology report? Bridgehouses Radical Passive

SUS TRANS connect 2 big lottery fund

Richard Rogers on radio 4 23/10/07 said that our low cost housing was far behind the quality of that provided in many other European countries. No current solution to provide housing in a sustainable way. Housing Associa-tions have no incentive to provide good quality housing. Need an approach which allows long term considerations to be considered.

Design decisions;-In practice, the re-use of fixtures and fittings such as architectural wrought iron /ironmongery is often an expensive and laborious task for the designer (finding a needle in a haystack)Such re-use cannot be efficient, cost-effective or improve the environmentally sustainable credentials of a development when such objects are so difficult to design and specify. However in refurbishment or demolish-to-build scenarios, an inventory could be produced at the early stages of design to identify the potential application of any such objects/materials in the new development. There will be no transportation costs, and the inventory would be a simple one-day task in most cases. Some cleaning and treatment may be required but the re-useage of the item creates zero carbon emissions and comes at no additional purchase cost. This is currently a feasible solution in modern/historical refurbishments to building stock with a high value, where architectural design is more highly valued. However, this practice may be even more financially viable in commercial / industrial developments with low land value. Elements from buildings to be demolished have rarely all reached the end of their useful lives when they come to be demolished. It may prove much cheaper to re-use the Windows, insulation, ironmongery & structure of an industrial / commercial ‘shed’ built up to 30 years ago, assuming they are able to meet today’s standards of energy conservation.

Harman, R. M., J (2004). Sheffield, Pevsner Architectural Guides.

Appendix

The following web article is an exaample of the kind of resistence to alternative design technologies which can exist within the contemporary system of ‘mainstream’ development. The task is to overturn this attitude which tends to understand the value of buildings purely in terms of short term economic gain.

from http://www.housebuildersupdate.co.uk/2005/11/bill-dunsters-walls.html

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Bill Dunster's walls

“Bill Dunster is, for want of a better word, an ecotect. That is an architect with a passion for green design. He sprang to fame with a project known as BedZed, a development of live-work units built on a disused sewage farm in Beddington, South London. It’s had acres of publicity and is rightly held up as an exemplar of how multiple housing units should be built in the future. But BedZed has now been finished for three years and Dunster has found it a hard act to follow. Developers and social housing landlords have not been falling over each other to repeat “the experiment” and he has been frustrated by planners who haven’t been prepared to loosen the planning corset just because a scheme is green.

But at last, Dunster has another scheme to showcase his talent. This time it’s a four-storey block of key worker flats on the St Matthews council estate in Lambeth, South London. It’s not quite as big or prestigious as BedZed but in some ways it’s more technically advanced. Building carried a feature on it this week, which caught my eye: in particular, the wall detailing. The outer walls are no less than 550mm wide, compared with just under 300mm in conventional housing. They are made up of 150mm blockwork inside 300mm of expanded polystyrene insulation filling the cavity, behind a 100mm brick skin, which is what them outside world sees. The plus point is of course that, with this much insulation, you have got a tremendously low U value – reckoned to be just 0.1W/K/m2. But against this, on a 60m2 apartment, you are loosing up to 25% of the footprint to walling.

Yikes. That’s a hell of a lot, especially considering we are being encouraged to build smaller and smaller units. Dunster is a big fan of heavy mass construction, which means little or no timber frame and little or no off-site pre-fabrication. He believes in the importance of thermal mass (concrete in other words) in regulating the temperature characteristics of a home and in reducing the effects of summer over-heating. But is thermal mass really such a wonderful concept that you have to loose 20% or more of your floor area just to accommodate it? If there wasn’t quite so much south-facing glazing — another of his betes verts — then perhaps the designs wouldn’t require quite so much thermal mass and the walls wouldn't have to be quite so thick.

Another problem comes with the adoption of a 300mm cavity, shown here in diagramatic form, (ref Building magazine). How do you manage the openings? In particular, how do you ensure that the water penetrating the outer brickwork is directed back out of the external wall rather than dripping down into the joinery? You’ve left the world of conventional construction far behind here: there are no off-the-peg wall ties this long and there are no pre-formed cavity trays this wide. Dunster’s solution has been to design a wrap-around cavity tray around each window. To me, it sounds just like the sort of detail which is likely to fall victim to sloppiness on site. Done perfectly, there should never be any problem but construction isn’t a perfect world.

One other feature of this article stands out. The costings. £1600/m2. This isn’t, in fact, far out of line with many other innovative social housing projects being built around the country at the moment, but it’s about twice the rate that selfbuilders hope to complete their projects for. Why the huge discrepancy? A good question, which will have to wait for another blog.”posted by Mark Brinkley @ 12:19 PM

1 Comments:greenwashstopper said...

“crikey - there's quite a few things you should know about the cost and the walls at bedzed amongst many things...i think it is very dangerous to post bland stuff about e.g. bedzed on any website if you haven't researched the subject seriously thoroughly. there is a hell of a lot more (or should i say less?) to bedzed than meets the eye. exposure is required in order that we can all MOVE ON and do the green thing properly.”

Appendix: Burngreave Messenger, November 2004

The first 6 of 20 pages of this monthly local publica-tion are reproduced below. The paper offers a sur-prising amount of information and an insight into the events and happenings of some of the area’s local communities

12:3025/01/12

Completion of Bridgehouses Tram Stop which encloses a small public courtyard

set against a stone flanking wall. This monumental bike shed is a bookend for a pioneering carbon zero housing develop-

ment here at Bridgehouses

8BridgehousestramstopOpposite the reclamation yard sits the former site of Bridgehouses station which has remained vacant since its demolition in 1965. In 2009 CZBS builds a pilot house using 100% locally sourced materi-als and building products, the construction, maintenance and serv-icing of the house makes zero contriubution to carbon emissions and will help to fulfill our hopes to make new housing ‘Carbon Zero’.

Bridgehouses Station was Sheffield’s first railway station, but soon became an unfavourable choice of site, with little room for expan-sion, hemmed in by the hills and the river and the rail line itself. Altough the main station building wasdemolished long ago, the foundations and small platform still remain. About a third of the site was cut away in the earthworks for the new relief road, but a site (2 hectares) remains, sandwiched between a 6 lane ringroad and the existing, hardly used Woodhead rail line. The site sits hidden from view by a recently rebuilt stone retaining wall which rises 2m at its lowest level and 9m at its highest point.

After growing pressure from various groups, the council decides to permit the construction of a north eastern loop of the supertram system. This is completed in just 6 months with a very large work-force, and helps to take the slack of the rising numbers of unem-ployed labourers following the sudden halt to city centre develop-ment experienced in 2010.

Bridgehouses Passive Radical is a group within SED which guides the development of this site for research in the academic, govern-mental and manufacturing spheres> However it has equal respon-sibility to cooperate with the registered social landlord SED Hous-ing Association, and the creation of revenue in the private sector through property sales and lettings, (including options for self- and assisted-build)

The Bridgehouses tramstop makes the development infinitely more appealing to residents, and coupled with its sensitive design, the obstacles of this awkward site are turned to the advantage of SED and its collaborators.

Sheffield’s historical urban precedents show how residential and indus-trial land uses can be successfully integrated. I have looked at sites which share specific characteristics in both softspace and F+S Architecture, in fact there are a dozen or so sites which I know of in Sheffield which share these characteristics:

- originally developed in the mid nine-teenth century- small, irregular shaped sites- at node points- on the edges between residential and commercial land uses- currently unoccupied, or partially unoccupied for at least 50 years- dilapidated condition- not grand or prestigious;- cheaply but robustly built. - built in stages with several later ad-ditions- not subject to any special planning considerations (listings/ conservation areas)- former industrial use

attracted to these sites, however, their features have contributed to a develop-ing approach: towards an architecture which is propelled by a concern for the innate qualities of site (place). This begins with attempting to understand the many connected political/sensual/topographic* spheres which impinge on a site over time.

Bridgehouses Station was Sheffield’s first railway station, but soon became an unfavourable choice of site, with little room for expansion, hemmed in by the hills and the river and the rail line itself. It was demolished ???? but the foundations and small platform still remain. About a third of the site was cut away in the earthworks for the new relief road, but a site approxi-mately ????sqm remains, sandwiched between a 6 lane ringroad and the existing, hardly used Woodhead Line railway . The site sits hidden from view by a recently rebuilt stone retaining wall which rises 2m at its lowest level and 9m at its highest point.

25/05/12

2:1525/01/12

?

9SpitalHillfromtheWicker

?? can’t quite remember what this was an opportunity to talk about

The Wicker Arches formed the victorian era gateway to the East of Sheffield down the Wicker a broad medieval thoroughfare which once approached the castle over Lady’s Bridge, the first stone bridge to be built across the Don (/Dun).

Spital Hill Works is placed prominantly to the approach from the city centre, being half way up spital hill at the start of the local retail and amenities which line the upper half of Spital Hill

HYL

25/05/12

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