Sheffield superlabs set for approval
The University of Sheffield’s plans for a five-storey laboratory building have been recommended for approval, enhancing its science faculties with designs from joint architects Twelve and BVN.
Also on the project team was planning consultant Montagu Evans, project manager Turner & Townsend, and civil engineers Arup.
The building will comprise two 300-person laboratories, known as superlabs, as well as a fume cupboard lab, an anatomy lab, a tissue-culture lab, teaching and study spaces, a reception, an external loading dock, a ‘pocket park’, and parking.
The aesthetic is based around sustainability, with a green roof to increase biodiversity.
Known as a central teaching laboratory building, it will be located next to the university’s tram stop on land adjacent to Hounsfield Road, Leavygreave Road, and Upper Hanover Street.
The recommendation for approval comes with the condition that the Russell Group university makes a financial contribution of £15,000 towards improving local tram infrastructure and a 30 year habitat management and monitoring plan covering the new park and the planting of trees.
For the labs to go ahead, the removal of eight mature trees from the building site will be necessary and so, after some back-and-forth with the Sheffield Tree Action Group and the Sheffield Street Tree Partnership, the university has agreed to plant eight new street trees along with 46 more within the parkland area and the wider campus.
Montagu Evans estimated that the building will be an £86m investment that will support 70 construction jobs.
