Local News
Issue 1152
Call 0114 283 1100
11th February 2021
www.looklocal.org.uk
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Historic Sheffield shopping mall and office estate acquired EVOLVE Estates, the national commercial property investment company, has acquired Hillsborough Barracks in Sheffield, for an undisclosed sum. Set within a walled estate of 11.5 acres, the grade II listed Hillsborough Barracks comprises a shopping parade with converted offices and separate office buildings. The estate was originally used as a War Office in 1848 and was repurposed 40 years ago as a retail and business destination, with multi-storey car park, local shopping parade, offices, The Garrison Hotel and McDonalds, both of which have long leasehold. Also included in the sale is Dragoon Court, an office building that has planning permission to be converted into 32 one-bedroom residential units. The Parade, which was brought to market by Opus North LLP with an asking price of £4.2m, is anchored by Morrison’s, which was not included in the sale, and has a mix of high street and independent traders, including Poundland and Extra Care Charity Trust. Joe O’Keefe, of Evolve Estates, said: “We’re pleased to have completed the acquisition of this superb mixed-use site in Sheffield, which has a strong retail centre, a good office complex offer, and excellent transport links to the
city centre and local residential areas. “We recognised the huge potential of this site, so were keen to bring it into our increasing portfolio of local district centres and convenience parades. We’re looking forward to working with local retailers, businesses and organisations to see how we can best add value to our purchase and benefit the local community. “This deal marks our second acquisition of 2021, which demonstrates our confidence in the sector in the medium and long term and our positive plans for growth.” Commercial property investment company LCP has been appointed to manage the centre for Evolve Estates, which is part of the LCP group of companies. Simon Eatough, LCP asset management, said: “We have a reputation for intensive asset management and attracting high street names to retail centres, so we’ll be working closely with Evolve and getting to know the tenants of Hillsborough Barracks to ensure we play a central role in building a strong, community-focused shopping parade that gives locals the retail stores they need and want on their doorstep.” Prime acted as agents for Evolve Estates, with Allsop acting for Opus North LLP.
Online meeting tackles local climate change NEARLY 40 people attended the first of a series of Zoom events, ‘Tackling the Climate Emergency in Penistone and Stocksbridge’, last Saturday. There was a brief talk by Danielle Paffard from the national Green New Deal (GND) followed by four speakers from local community and interest groups. Danielle said that GND campaigned to persuade the government to decarbonise the economy, create secure green jobs and help in the transition of workers to those green jobs, support local communities, restore and protect wild spaces and the natural world. Charles Booth explained how Bullhouse MIll became the first privately owned carbon negative building in the UK. He developed the site around Passivhaus standards with high tech insulation, intelligent lighting, separating hot and cold areas, using less water, recycling to
avoid landfill, installing a huge array of solar electric panels, harnessing energy from the River Don and wind turbines. Heating is by ground based heat pumps and they additionally use biomass. The National Grid caps input so they can’t input any more electricity. They plan on having free Electric Vehicle charging for tenants. Holly Johnston spoke about her work as Lead Organiser for Nurses United and as an Oncology Nursing Sister in Sheffield. She said Nurses United support the GND as it will Build Back Better where we should have a right to say what happens to our services. Free health care is a right and we need to protect the NHS from being sold off. Their work with communities to reduce emissions will also reduce Asthma, lung diseases and improve mental health by protecting green spaces. Electric car use and car sharing with bike use schemes have proved
very popular. Pushing for better organisational practice with input from staff, better pay and union membership will all help to recruit and retain these critical NHS staff. Fran Postlethwaite told us about the Better Buses campaign; the need for a radical change to the existing bus system. Car use in South Yorkshire contributes far more CO2 than the national average with air pollution causing so many deaths. We need ‘green’ buses with zero carbon emissions. Yorkshire has three manufacturers of these buses but Covid meant orders were cancelled and one company’s output goes for export. We needed to expand the fleet of electric buses and where they go; improve access and take up for existing car users. She gave the example of the three hours it currently takes to go by bus from Penistone to Stocksbridge; a ten minute journey by car. This
needs a radical change to how bus travel is funded and operated. Patrick Wakefield from Youth Climate Strikers explained what was happening to the planet through air pollution, extreme weather events, including the related fires in the Peak district. He said we needed to change the way the economy worked as well as addressing all the climate and environmental needs such as the rise in sea level will force millions away from coastal areas around the world in 50 years or less. He highlighted how we needed to act now to meet the challenges of the climate emergency and the role of youth in pushing this on the political agenda because no political party currently wants to do the radical changes needed. He pointed out the daily production of 90 million gallons of oil just kept going with no sign of us reducing use of fossil fuels.
Similarly how the current system has produced 56 people, mostly white men, who own more than half of the world’s population. That was the macro side and on the micro side how the Rolls Royce Barnoldswick site workers had pressed to change from making car engines to making green technology. Other examples he gave were from Spain, agriculture and moving away from a profit motive. Well done Patrick! Four breakout groups discussed topics raised by the speakers before we summarised and thanked the speakers. The event was supported by Penistone and Stocksbridge Constituency Labour Party, Green New Deal, Build Back Better, ACORN Sheffield, Upper Don Renewable Energy Ltd, Bullhouse Mill, Barnsley TUC, Don Valley Railway, Nurses United, Better Buses Campaign and Youth Climate Strikers.
