I hope I'm coming to a conclusion too early here, but on driving through Sheffield City Centre yesterday, for the first time in a while, I noticed that the Macdonald's hotel is slowly rising upwards. And the office block which is to be addressed No1 St. Paul's is also being built, just what I presume to be the stairwell and lift shaft now in situ.

Well, the big question is: What do you think of it so far? (And yes, I appreciate I might be somewhat premature with this subject not waiting unitl both buildings are complete.)

My first thoughts are that the hotel looks almost as bad as the eggbox it is replacing, a lot of concrete and worst of all, it has totally ruined the vista one got from the Peace Gardens of the lovely Winter Gardens. Only Sheffield could get it so nearly right and then go screw it up. And as for the office block, which I can only go on 'Artist's Impression', it looks horrendous, totally out of character with the Winter Gardens and design of the Peace Gardens. Also, these two buildings are going to close in the whole area, much to my regret as the area has become a wonderful open area of much needed greenery and space in the city centre.

I hope I'm wrong and that the buildings will blend in, but I doubt it. That superb view of the Winter Gardens from Pinstone Street, esp lit up at night is now gone for good and that's a shame. On a more positive note, the Arundel Gate and Eyre Street areas are much improved as will be the Railway Station area when finished.

This has been discussed at quite great length on the Forum with, as I remember, views being quite polarised.
I am in agreement with you. What isn't obvious at this stage is how the height of the hotel will dominate even the adjacent Town Hall. Poor planning and poor design. Let's not forget the loss of the registry office which in time may have become regarded as an architectural gem ( a 60's rarity!)

I've not looked at the plans or even been past the area for a while but ages ago it looked to me as though as and when building work started again the views of those 'fantastic' wooden arches of the winter gardens would be hidden from view.
Looks as though the planners have really made a stupid mistake but time will tell.

I think no matter what was proposed for that area, people wouldn't be happy with it.

The hotel, IMO is a good way to fill the void between the town hall and winter garden. Leaving the area as open space simply wasnt an option as the cost implications of this, in terms of grants and lost income to the council, would be huge. The site had to be utilised. Until the hotel is actually completed, its hard to say how the design of it blends in with the surroundings.

The office blocks remind me of a section hallam's Stoddart building, which, although looks modern, doesn't quite fit with the surrounding architecture in Pinstone Street and St Pauls Parade, although it will compliment (but probably insignify) the council buildings such as Howden House and Derwent House.

As i've only been here a year and a bit, I didnt see what the eggbox was like in the flesh, but from the photos i've seen they've made a good move with this new development IMO.

Originally posted by dinp
The hotel, IMO is a good way to fill the void between the town hall and winter garden.
Some of us think that the Winter Garden would have been a way to fill a void between the Town Hall and hotel.
This comment will of course raise counter arguments about relative footprint dimensions etc. something which the designers, planners and architects should have sorted out.
What we have is poor design, poor planning and a shambolic sense of perspective.

Originally posted by Ned Ludd
What we have is poor design, poor planning and a shambolic sense of perspective.
You're quite right !!
They could have built the hotel bigger without the greenhouse !

there was a big prostest over the hotel,
a lot of locals didnt want the beautiful views ruined either it was in the star for some weeks but the council decided to go with there pockets and not the view of the city.
typical money speaks loudest

a macdonalds hotel, are you serious? as in the food chain - heart disease place?

Originally posted by Ned Ludd
Some of us think that the Winter Garden would have been a way to fill a void between the Town Hall and hotel.


True, but either way the Winter Garden would be sandwiched inbetween two large buildings and the view would probably be obscured from Tudor Square instead! :D

I did notice that the lift shaft is 7 floors already.

Originally posted by nick2
I did notice that the lift shaft is 7 floors already.

Keep going... :D

Originally posted by mer1002
there was a big prostest over the hotel,
a lot of locals didnt want the beautiful views ruined either it was in the star for some weeks but the council decided to go with there pockets and not the view of the city.
typical money speaks loudest

Not quite, as usual people were moaning about the hotel but did nothing. There was a debate at the towm hall over the proposed plans and only a handful of people turned up and it was well advertised in the Star newspaper too. Typical, people will moan but expect others to do something.

Originally posted by NATALIESHEFF
a macdonalds hotel, are you serious? as in the food chain - heart disease place?

No not McDonalds grease bucket overloards but Macdonalds the Scottish hotel chain, I take it you haven't heard of them?

I stayed in the MacDonald hotel in Edinburgh once - excellent hotel with excellent customer service.

The people of Sheffield insisted that the Peace Gardens / Heart of the City project had to be "at no cost to the taxpayer" - this potential stumbling block nearly stopped the whole project.

The result - an office biting and a hotel to generate the income to ensure that Terre was no cost to the taxpayer. You can't have it both ways!

Shall we reserve final judgment until it is finished? A concrete lift shaft is not likely to give a good idea of the final building's look & style is it?

Originally posted by MrHelicopter
I stayed in the MacDonald hotel in Edinburgh once - excellent hotel with excellent customer service.

The people of Sheffield insisted that the Peace Gardens / Heart of the City project had to be "at no cost to the taxpayer" - this potential stumbling block nearly stopped the whole project.

The result - an office biting and a hotel to generate the income to ensure that Terre was no cost to the taxpayer. You can't have it both ways!

Shall we reserve final judgment until it is finished? A concrete lift shaft is not likely to give a good idea of the final building's look & style is it?

Indeed MrH, let's wait on the final product. As you say this was at no cost to the Taxpayer, I can imagine the uproar if the taxpayer paid for something on a smaller scale than this. The only problem I heard about is that the hotel can't get a 5 star rating because of poor parking so Sheffield is still without a 5* hotel.

Ive been and looked at the "artists impressions" on the website. Its difficult to tell. My main worry is that the hotel and offices will make the area seem like less of a "public space".

Some of the conceptual stuff (notably glass-covered link between the hotel cafe and the winter gardens) looks like it might work very well - but its so difficult to tell anything from these kinds of drawings. Id agree that the office block bit just looks "blearrrgghhh" (thats a proper architechtural term i believe) :gag:

Ill reserve judgement for now, but i hope (im sure like many others) that we havent done so much right only to screw it up now. Fingers crossed!

It was always the intention since 1995 to have a hotel and offices as part of the plan, so i can not see what the problem is.It was just the same when the Peace Gardens was started, everyone complaining about the original one being dug up.Look at it now
Does anyone really think the council was going to leave a prime peace of land bang in the centre of town go to waste.

You have to look at the big picture Imagine when you can walk from the new Station Square,up through the new Howard Street(with it new Fountain)through the Millenium galleries,into the Winter Garen and out into Millenium square and finally into the Peace Gardens. What a great first impression for visitors to Sheffield,instead of walking through the Bus station and past Roxy's.What an Improvement.

Originally posted by MrHelicopter
I stayed in the MacDonald hotel in Edinburgh once - excellent hotel with excellent customer service. I don't think many Sheffielders will be staying there (or could afford to)
Originally posted by MrHelicopter
The people of Sheffield insisted that the Peace Gardens / Heart of the City project had to be "at no cost to the taxpayer" - this potential stumbling block nearly stopped the whole project. It wasn't the people of Sheffield, it was the Council. Any connection between the two is very tenuous. if the council hadn't ****ed up with the incinerator and World Student Games they wouldn't have had to adopt this nonsensical policy for this most public centre-piece of Sheffield

Originally posted by Ned Ludd
I don't think many Sheffielders will be staying there (or could afford to)


I don't think they want locals to stay there, it's for visitors.

I get the star everynight and didnt see anything about it,

im not against the hotel just the fact that it will obscure the beautifull view created when the egg box came down.

Just hope it blends in with all the other buildings.

Is it me or does the wood of the winter gardens look really faded?

Originally posted by Disco_Cat
Is it me or does the wood of the winter gardens look really faded?

Wood does fade in the sun.

The Winter Garden Arches are laminates formed with Larch. If left to weather naturally without staining or treatment they will gradually take on a silvery grey hue.

Originally posted by mer1002
I get the star everynight and didnt see anything about it,

im not against the hotel just the fact that it will obscure the beautifull view created when the egg box came down.

Just hope it blends in with all the other buildings.

Erm, I can't remeber when it was but it's going back not long after the extension to the peace gardens was finished and the eggbox was under demolition when the plans were unvailed.