News - Thousands back hospital protest (Sheffield)

MORE than 3,600 people have now signed a protest petition against Sheffield University’s plans to knock down Jessop Hospital’s former Edwardian Wing.

The university wants to replace the Grade II-listed building with a new £80 million engineering block.

It says it cannot incorporate the old hospital block within its design for the redevelopment.

Sheffield Council has approved the scheme, despite planning officers initially being against the proposals.

But the scheme still needs final approval from Communities Secretary Eric Pickles for demolition of a listed building.

The Save Jessop Hospital Campaign is backed by local history groups and members of Sheffield Victorian Society.

The university claims the project is necessary because otherwise the engineering building would be much smaller, adding it has no use for the old hospital.

Visit www.jessophospital.org.uk/object for details of the campaign.
 

From: http://www.thestar.co.uk/community/green-scene/thousands-back-hospital-protest-1-5502426

News - Letter reveals desire to protect historic Sheffield building (Sheffield)

PLANNING officers strongly urged Sheffield University to retain a historic city building only six months before its demolition was approved.

Emails and letters between Sheffield Council planning officers, the university and its agents have been revealed to campaigners hoping to save the Grade II-listed Edwardian wing of the Jessop Hospital.

In a letter to the university’s consultants about the £80 million engineering block planned for the hospital site and neighbouring land, principal planning officer Dinah Hope called the university’s plans ‘disappointing’.

She branded the proposed engineering building an ‘ungainly big box that has no relationship with its setting’, adding the hospital’s Edwardian wing should be ‘retained, and influence the footprint and massing’ of the new block.

Ms Hope also warned loss of the Edwardian wing could leave the remaining Victorian wing of the hospital ‘weak and out of place against the backdrop of a new building’.

Nick Roscoe and Valerie Bayliss, of the Save Jessop Hospital campaign, said: “The picture that emerges is, leading up to the letter to the university, the planning department were dealing with this application firmly and showing no signs of accepting the demolition of the Edwardian building was necessary.

“The university would not have been happy with this letter – and obviously achieved a more compliant response from officers in the end.”

The council approved the plans in December, but Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has the final say because of the wing’s listed status.

Campaigners have collected 2,500 signatures on a petition at www.jessophospital.org.uk, which will be sent to Mr Pickles urging him to save the wing.

From: http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/letter-reveals-desire-to-protect-historic-sheffield-building-1-5402207

Petition - Save the Grade II Listed Edwardian wing of Jessop Hospital for Women (Sheffield)

Sheffield City Council will very soon make the decision on whether the University can demolish this nationally important building as part of their plans to build a new Faculty of Engineering building.

The decision will be based on whether the need for the new building outweighs the legal protection given to the listed building. The National Planning Policy Framework states that substantial harm to or loss of a grade II listed building should only be for an "exceptional reason".
If you wish to oppose the application to protect part of Sheffield's nationally important heritage please do one or more of the following as soon as possible:

Object at the council's online planning service,

email the planning committee councillors,

email your councillor,

email Paul Blomfield (MP for Sheffield Central),

email the University's Vice Chancellor.

Links are below.

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Objections must be made on the following grounds (please feel free to use one or more of these, and amend in your own words if you have time):

I object to the University's plans to demolish the Grade II Listed Edwardian wing of Jessop Hospital in order to build a new Engineering Faculty building.

The Jessop Edwardian wing is a nationally important building which is an integral part of the early development of the Jessop hospital, being designed by the same architect who built the Victorian wing to complement his earlier building.

I believe that the need for the new University's Engineering building is not exceptional enough to warrant the demolition of this Listed Edwardian building. Clearly a new Engineering building can be built without demolition of the Listed hospital building.

The University has done a great job of renovating the Victorian wing of the hospital and can do the same with the Edwardian wing, while still constructing a new Engineering building. The two are not mutually incompatable.

The proposed new building does not fit sympathetically with the surrounding Victorian and Edwardian area of the city comprising the Victorian wing of the Jessop Hospital, St George's Church and the Sir Frederick Mappin Building - all listed buildings.

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If you contact the University's Vice Chancellor, you may wish to add the following:

The University's reputation and standing in the city will be severely diminished if it goes ahead with plans to demolish the Edwardian wing of the Jessop hospital, where tens of thousands of Sheffielders were born over 100 years.

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The council's online planning service:

http://publicaccess.sheffield.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=MAI4NZNYFY000
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The planning committee councillors:

Cllr Alan Law (Chair) - alan.law@sheffield.gov.uk

Cllr David Baker - david.baker@sheffield.gov.uk

Cllr Richard Crowther - richard.crowther@sheffield.gov.uk

Cllr Tony Downing - tony.downing@sheffield.gov.uk

Cllr Jayne Dunn - jayne.dunn@sheffield.gov.uk

Cllr Ibrar Hussain- ibrar.hussain@sheffield.gov.uk

Cllr Peter Price - peter.price@sheffield.gov.uk

Cllr Janice Sidebottom - janice.sidebottom@sheffield.gov.uk

Cllr Diana Stimley - diana.stimely@sheffield.gov.uk


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Find your councillor:

http://councillors.sheffield.gov.uk/index.asp?pgid=215818
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Paul Blomfield:

paul.blomfield.mp@parliament.uk

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University Vice Chancellor (Keith Burkinshaw)

vc@sheffield.ac.uk   Via SCHF