Sheffield buys heritage building to end legal tangle

The city council has acquired the vacant former Salvation Army Citadel on Cross Burgess Street from Tandem Properties, bringing to a close a long-running dispute over repairs.

Sheffield sees the building, which opened in 1894 and was used by the Salvation Army for more than 100 years, as vital to its regeneration efforts given its prominent location.

The biding stands next to the recently opened Radisson Blu hotel and as such is also a neighbour to parts of the Heart of the City regeneration project, including Cambridge Street Collective and Leah’s Yard, both of which also opened this year.

A round of consultation on the nearby Cole Brothers store, where Urban Splash is in place as developer, has taken place this month while the Fargate improvement programme has advanced, making the Citadel one of the last pieces of the city centre overhaul jigsaw still posing a headache.

Since the church moved out in 1999, the building, which includes a distinctive grade two-listed red-brick frontage, has remained empty.

The owner had put various proposals forward for the site, with both an application for retail and one for restaurant/bar use granted conditionally, in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

However, with the building falling into disrepair, the council had sought to enforce a repair programme through the courts.

With the site now in its ownership, SCC said it has already started the process of assessing the building and determining future uses, with a further announcement expected in the coming months.

In a joint statement following the conclusion of the deal, Cllr Ben Miskell, chair of the transport, regeneration and climate policy committee at SCC and Tandem director Robert Hill said:

“Sheffield City Council and Tandem Properties Limited are pleased to have reached terms to settle court proceedings and at the same time the Council has acquired the property known as the Citadel.

“Sheffield City Council will now be progressing plans to see this important heritage building improved and both parties look forward to proposals then being progressed to see the building brought back into use. Neither party will be making further comment on this agreement.”