I was walking thru the peace gardens last night and i thought it looked amazing with all the lights on the townhall and in the peace gardens. However, I could not help but think that it would look complete if they had lights in the floor where the big fountain is to light it up at night, i cant believe that they did not install these as it looks a bit out of place as all the other water features are lit up. Anyone know why they did not do this??


Also i was walking up the new howard street and again the new seats that have the blue lights under them looked great but some lights wernt working or only had half of them working!!!, they are new for gods sake, cant they be replaced??? and i think those seats need a clean as well, there is so much dust on the black tops and the metal base.

Also!, as i was walking to the top of howard street to cross over arundal gate, i could not help noticing that the flags of the millenuim gallery that are held on the lap posts are rather dirty, could they not get them to give them a wash along with the outside of the HUBS (former national centre of pop music) building??

It just these little touches that need doing as i feel they stand out against the great backdrop that the new city centre is becoming.

Anyone from the council reading this??????

Also why is the fountains in the peace gardens (the big things where the water pour from) sometimes work then not, is it to do with wind???

Zedex, you'd make a magnificent housekeeper! Wanna come round and do my skirting boards? ;)

Only jesting, yes I think designing these things is only half the talent. Maintenence is what makes a place shine.

LOL...

I think the water feature do not come on at night is maybe to save electricity (?), or even to save water during the night or something. It's never on at night I've noticed.

I thought the peace garden looked amazing as well when it's all lit up. It's almost like one of those pretty European destination that you visit. It stood out the first time I saw it.

Vandalism is what brings the city down sometimes.

On another good note, I was quite impressed with the flower selection in the flower bed in the middle of the road down near Staples, and the traffic lights. All the little yellow daisy-looking flowers just stood right out, and made a dramatic impact. I'm not sure if anybody would notice these in that area, but I thought that it was pretty. Nicely chosen, and refreshing for a change. Someone must've given it TLC to get it like that.

there is a small windspeed meter (anemometer) situated next to the main fountain in the peace gardens that appears to drop the water pressure of the jets in response to high winds....

He He I wont make a good housekeeper, u should see the state of mine!

The main fountin does work in the evening when it is getting dark, i saw it the other day. I was meaning having lights in the floor where the water jets are to light it up when it is working in the dusk!!! as it just seem sout of place not lit up.

The wind issue was regarding the big green pourer type things that are around the edge of the peace garden where the water flows from. i was in town the other day and one min they were on the next they wernt and there did not seem much change in the wind????

I think you just like a good moan!

not moaning, just asking questions and making suggestions on how to improve and already great addition to the city centre!!!

not moaning, just asking questions and making suggestions on how to improve and already great addition to the city centre!!!

I have read somewhere that there are white lights incorporated into the jets,but i dont think i have ever seen them work also they used to be spot lights within the plants area but they never seam to change the bulbs.
Also can they not replace the light bulbs on the Catherdral as half of them are never working.

Hi enlightened housekeepers!.. just completed the registration process so I can reply to some of your queries. The Peace Gardens fountains have a fibre optic lighting system, but the contractor cut a few corners (and a few fibres) so it has never worked properly. There have been tests of an alternative system but money is tight and progress is very slow. The Howard Streel seat lights used high intensity LED's from a bad batch, which started to fail and fade soon after installation. The contractor has accepted the problem and they will be replaced soon.

The Peace Gardens water feature are controlled by the anemometer and maintenance staff, and it can be difficult to tell who is in charge at any particular moment. The 'water vessels' as they are known are sensitive to the wind even though a lot of testing was done during their design so sometimes the security staff are very cautious about when to switch them off.

The Pinball Park (next to HUBs / old NCPM) has a load of lighting installed but is never switched on because the council don't want to pay for it. How long before the new lights on Howard street get too expensive and get quietly switched off too?

Thanks for ur answers so far. Another couple of points I want to make are:

I notice that the townhall brickwork could do with a bit of a cleanup as it is a bit dark and mucky, maybe a bit like how the city hall has been cleaned up. I feel this would fit in with the new millenium/peace garden squares.

Secondaly, Speaking of light bulbs, the new fountains outside the cityhall where there is a green strip that runs round the outside of the base of the fountains. Some of the lights dont work, again its has been newly installed!!! Is this another contracter issue??

Howard Street is a very important route from the Station so it is unlikely that the lighting levels would be reduced in the future, and the seat lights are LED's anyway so their power consumption is minimal compared to the lighting effect.

The Town Hall is grubby, and those dangling pigeon nets look bad too but will probably have to wait for a big event before being cleaned... perhaps the next visit by the Queen?

The Barkers Pool fountain lighting is still being snagged by the Contractors, and won't be fully operational until the rest of the works are complete...more lighting is currently being installed in the seats in front of John Lewis's

The lighting in and around the Peace Gardens looked lovely this evening, especially with the addition of the outside seating provided by Cafe Rouge - finally Sheffield is starting to look and act like a European city - places to sit out and drink and eat and talk in the city centre :) The green and blue lights were on in the fountains at Barker's Pool too, although I could hardly see for police horses :suspect:

Here is my gripe - I really don't like what they've done with the redesign of Howard Street going up the hill - I think the seating and lighting is awful - those rounded-off square black seating things with the blue lights underneath and the mirrors on the top look like a bad episode of Tomorrow's World :( they are smooth with no drainage so that pools of water gather on the surface when it rains so you can't sit on them for ages without getting soaked, then you can see big muddy footprints on the surface so you can't sit down, the large circular mirrors on the tops (why!?) are already broken and missing, and the blue lights underneath look like the underside of a chav-mobile.

They are not in-keeping with the general style of the street furniture in the centre of Sheffield (which I think is overall very good - especially in the Peace Gardens area - what I call the three B's (Benches, Bins, Bollards)), and I think whoever designed these "black boxes" was trying to make some kind of tasteless "futuristic" statement, as opposed to trying to contribute to a general theme of well-designed and architectually attractive street furniture throughout the city. Oh, and the shiny slippy slate-like floor covering going down a steep hill was a great idea for people wheeling their suitcases down to the station when it's wet!! :rolleyes: My twopence worth :thumbsup:

LOL......ah...we are a moany nation ! We sure live up to our name ! :D
Saying that, I do agree with the point about the groundwork near Howard St(?) as slippery. I had to walk pretty carefully going downhill too.

I'm not sure of the big black seatings. It seems to be an odd place to offer seating to people. There's no view, and people don't seem to congregate there. I wonder whether the student uses it.

LOL......ah...we are a moany nation ! We sure live up to our name ! :D
Saying that, I do agree with the point about the groundwork near Howard St(?) as slippery. I had to walk pretty carefully going downhill too.

I'm not sure of the big black seatings. It seems to be an odd place to offer seating to people. There's no view, and people don't seem to congregate there. I wonder whether the student uses it.

Hehe, I love moaning about idiotic decisions the council etc have made. Life wouldn't be the same without it :thumbsup:

The Hallam Students tend to sit on the landscaped grass to the left as you walk down the hill, or in the amphitheatre near the entrance to City Campus. The little sculptural waterway thing on the left with the mosaic tiles is really very attractive, and similar in style to the water features of the Peace Gardens. It's a shame they didn't continue this style elsewhere really.