It seems like the University and the students will be benefiting from it more than general members of the public.
But, it's better than seeing the building empty and, although it won't bring in tourists, it will encourage more students to consider Sheffield and increase revenue in that way.
I doesn't say it will be a major concert venue. It says it can be hired by "clubs and associations". This doesn't mean "club nights and promotors". However, it's easy to believe that they'll continue to host the nature of live events the NMB has over the years. In which case we haven't really gained much as a city.
It's still a point for consideration that £millions meant for charities has been spent in order for SHU to get a cheap and impressive new Student Union. There are worse causes it could've gone to than a place of education, but it's still not the point.
Unfortunately, no-one seemed to try and put together a coherent enough plan to challenge that of a new Student Union, which can't offer much more than the amenities on offer at the NMB and therefore can't give much more of a cultural boost in Sheffield, apart from having the School of Cultural Studies nearer to the centre.
Students and SHU will benefit, but I can't see it making much difference to anyone else in this City.
Did anyone actually visit the place whilst it was open? I popped in the bar for a beer on the way to the Showroom but never made it inside (cheap thats me).
I can't see it bringing any value to the "quarter" , but no viable alternatives were forthcoming but I can't see it becoming a venue for bands or clubs either...Leadmill, Octagon, City Hall and the Arena cater for most size acts between them. So.....bring on 50p Vodka night for the studes. God bless education.
I attempted to visit it - but in classic "government funded" style, they told me that I was too late to look around. There was 40 minutes until closing, but they said that it would take an hour for a 'good' look. I informed them that I didn't mind rushing - but they still refused me entry.
No wonder it failed - they needed basic customer skills and some knowledge of running a business. The people there seemed to have little motivation (or concern) about recovering their £11m start-up costs!
Rather than understanding it was my loss if I rushed around, they instead sent me off with my money remaining firmly in my wallet...
I paid to get in to do an architectural study of the place and thought I'd take in the exhibits seeing as I'd paid something like £7 or £8 (can't remember exactly how much now). It was pathetic. The place was too small to hold much and the majority of the space was taken up with blatant advertising gimmics for the sponsors. The questions of 'what was our money wasted on' should have been asked then as it was still in the hands of the people who could make it a better public venture. And of course all of it was the more disappointing for being housed in a fantastic building.
I'm grateful the SHU has it for one main reason, and that's that the only other use found for the place so far was as a nightclub. I like clubs, but object to interesting buildings being used as clubs because they do nothing to enliven an area during the day - a students' union will at least be used both day and night. The buildings suffer too - the NCPM looked just as derelict when it was being used as a club as it does now and I'm sure the building housing Bed wasn't always black. The one exception is Republic, but that's because they went to the effort of building a club.
There was the "Pride In Sheffield" campaign who wanted to turn the NCPM into what was reportedly a "conference centre". PIS organised events such as hugging the centre (?!) and a appeared to spend a lot of their time writing to people in the Government and criticising Yorkshire Forward. The idea of the campaign, to an outsider, seemed to be to find a sustainable use for the building that benefitted music and Sheffield as a whole.
SHU's idea is a simple one and should work. Many seemed to think that their bid winning over that of PIS was a foregone conclusion, either through weaknesses in the campaign or what some claimed was backroom dealing.
No wonder it failed - they needed basic customer skills and some knowledge of running a business. The people there seemed to have little motivation (or concern) about recovering their £11m start-up costs!
Rather than understanding it was my loss if I rushed around, they instead sent me off with my money remaining firmly in my wallet...
This wasn't the reason it failed...it was just rubbish from start to finish. The whole thing was poorly executed and misconceived in the first place. I went a couple of times cos I had a friend working there. There was a whole room dedicated to protest songs (great if you're into that but hardly mass appeal). Another was a 3D "soundscape" where you sat listening to a presentation about how great the 3d soundscape was (it wasn't ). Another room you peered through little holes to see a still photo of a pop star and to hear a song playing.
The best room was "try an instrument" where kids could bash the hell out of drums etc but of course that was unbearable for the over 13s after a few minutes becuase of the racket.
Overall it had very little mass appeal at all. Never was something so misnamed when this was called "an attraction"
It's a shame it failed. I went twice and quite enjoyed both my visits. (Took some friends from Northampton there who had heard about it.) I remember getting a bit silly with the karaoke machines. They were just a bit slow at changing the movable exhibitions.
Imagine it with the current music scene... we could have had Sheffield's past and present museum.
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Well im glad its a student union as i make the most out of it by going every week for a party and they do nice foood during the day as well for all the general public
What a big waste of a landmark building to be a students union - since its in the Cultural Quarter can it not house something cultural e.g. an art gallery ??
What a big waste of a landmark building to be a students union - since its in the Cultural Quarter can it not house something cultural e.g. an art gallery ??
It costs a f8ck of a lot of money to keep a building like that open & doing community face painting & such like just woudlnt pay the rent - so I cannot think of many other uses that would realistically pull in the sort of money that a student union does.
They were just a bit slow at changing the movable exhibitions. 
