What's the big, red, building at the end of The Moor, for?

Wasn't it supposed to be a thoroughfare but ended up people always having to go round it because of heightened security of government buildings during 70s and 80s?

That is absolutely correct. Buses and pedestrians. There are too few buildings of character in Sheffield.

It was built by Central Govt in the late 1970s to house the Civil Service's Manpower Services Commission, who were relocated from London to Sheffield as part of the then Govt's policy of devolving jobs from London to other cities.

 

After the Civil Service vacated the building about 6 years ago I recall that there was a plan to demolish it & build a retail park / apartments on the site, however due to lack of commercial interest in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crash the building was instead sold to Sheffield Council for a nominal fee. It's now occupied by Council staff, who were moved into there from a number of rented offices around the city centre thereby saving public money. Some Council contractors rent office space in there from the Council too.

 

When built it had a bad effect on the London Rd shops because before then these were a natural extension of city centre shopping, in line of sight from the bottom of the Moor. Then the London Rd trading area became more or less "out of sight, out of mind" when the Manpower building went up.

Very nicely summed up I do remember the upset it caused at the time, separating London Rd from town.

It is Ziggurat of Council.

In 1984 it housed Ministry of Love but that got absorbed by SCC.

I'm tempted to agree. Having seen the old photos of the bottom of the Moor and Ecclesall Road, one can only imagine how nice that area could have been.

 

Nevermind, at least we have had all the employment opportunities provided by that building. I recall many friends in the 80's saying how they were paid to go there and read newspapers, throw paper planes and play office cricket.

And the subsidised bar. You can't forget that. After all its where we spent every Friday afternoon. At a quid a pint there were some serious sessions had.

I quite like it. It's a very imposing structure. Unique. I like Sheffield's 60s & 70s architecture, lots of good solid concrete & brick. Makes a change from seeing the sheds they build out of RSJs & cover with decorative facades these days.

There is a walkway under it, but it's behind large locked gates, the path that was supposed to be on the other side to link it to London Road was never completed by the council. It's a shame that was never opened up, a nice walkway & subway would go some way to fixing the problem of cutting off London Road.

It shades all the Moorfoot too, as well as blocking access, so think it killed off that bottom part of the moor as well as London Road. Even the public toilet block built into it has been closed for years now, most of the moorfoot area is in a poor state, there's very little reason to go there, just empty shops, dempseys & sharps. I hope there's some plan to regenerate that area a bit now the rest of the moor is almost complete.

Hate it or not, it'd be a massive job to demolish such a big reinforced concrete structure. It seems to be a very solid structure & it'd be a waste of a unique huge building, so we should make the best of it.

I know it's council offices now, but I don't think they use all of it. It standing there half empty doesn't really help anybody.

Everything you have reported is correct , I would just like to add that there is a public pedestrian walkway through the building , this public path has always been denied by the authorities , if you know the building you may have noticed the large ornate metal gates blocking the walkway .

There is actually nothing stopping you walking through it, just go through the main doors and then immediately to your left are a set of door that take you to the back of the building.

OK for about 5 yards you have to walk through the lobby to the building but nobody actually stops you from doing so. And you can only do it during hours the building is open. Give it a try next time you are in town.

 

I know it's council offices now, but I don't think they use all of it. It standing there half empty doesn't really help anybody.

The missus reliably informs me the building is easily 90% occupied now.

 

I know it's council offices now, but I don't think they use all of it. It standing there half empty doesn't really help anybody.

I can confirm its not 'half empty'. I know this as I work in the building. There are approximately 4500 staff working for Keir, Capita and SCC - but im not telling you which one I work for.

Granted there are some areas still empty but the vast majority is occupied.

most of the moorfoot area is in a poor state, there's very little reason to go there, just empty shops, dempseys & sharps. I hope there's some plan to regenerate that area a bit now the rest of the moor is almost complete.

Years ago, when wholesale redevelopment of the Moor area first began, the block with Dempseys et al was indeed part of the masterplan, but looking at their website now it seems to be a forgotten part of the plan.

Either way though, continuing at the pace it has done, regeneration of the Moor will have a knock on effect for surrounding areas, so with a lot of patience, I imagine things that side of Cumberland Street will pick up eventually.

http://www.moorsheffield.com/improvements.html

 

 

What's the big, red, building at the end of The Moor, for?

 

I've walked past it a lot, but I don't know what it's for. It's unaesthetically pleasing, in my opinion.

It was commissioned in 1980 to be the Northern Headquarters for "Torchwood", but, before its completion it was decided to keep the main HQ in London, and set up an outstation in Cardiff instead.

When the building was completed, it was first handed over to SHADO for use as a, er, "Shadow" site for their main HQ in the Harlington-Straker film studios in London, but, with the destruction of the alien threat in 1989 it was refurbished as a regional center (sic) for "Spectrum".

(The original commander for the Yorkshire Region was Captain Ochre.)

There is actually nothing stopping you walking through it, just go through the main doors and then immediately to your left are a set of door that take you to the back of the building.

Good luck with that. I worked in there before moving to another government building in town, where my work pass would still get me in Moorfoot, and the woman on security used to challenge me when I walked through as a shortcut!

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I work there and I've still no idea what it's for!