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

[carosio 186]

It's the old Manpower building!...............the one that killed the Moor when it was built!.

The planning crime of the century.

 

Add insane to that!

[Nagel 10]

It's a fabulous building, reminds me of a ziggurat. I'd hate to see it demolished as it would be replaced by something far more anonymous.

 

"The Moor is terminated by Moorfoot, which Owen Hatherley calls a ‘thrillingly paranoid Cold War megastructure’, a red brick Ziggurat of government offices from 1978. You have to admire the balls."

[JFKvsNixon 11]

It's very much of it's time. I've never understood the need for buildings to look pretty.

[Anna B 1,414]

It's very much of it's time. I've never understood the need for buildings to look pretty.

 

Attractive buildings and spaces are surely part of a pleasant environment. Doesn't everyone want to live and work in a pleasant environment?

[Nagel 10]

It's very much of it's time. I've never understood the need for buildings to look pretty.

 

But it's an attractive building to some of us. The bricks make it more human.

[Anna B 1,414]

But it's an attractive building to some of us. The bricks make it more human.

 

Wasn't it supposed to have gardens with tall overhanging trees on all the terraces to green it up when it was first built?

 

That would have improved it no end. It could have looked lovely.

[JFKvsNixon 11]

Attractive buildings and spaces are surely part of a pleasant environment. Doesn't everyone want to live and work in a pleasant environment?

 

There's a difference between something being attractive and something looking pretty. I like it when buildings reflect their functions, so I believe that structural innovations that achieve this aim can look more attractive then ornamentation.

 

---------- Post added 30-04-2016 at 16:52 ----------

 

But it's an attractive building to some of us. The bricks make it more human.

 

I agree......

Edited April 30, 2016 by JFKvsNixon

[Nagel 10]

Wasn't it supposed to have gardens with tall overhanging trees on all the terraces to green it up when it was first built?

 

That would have improved it no end. It could have looked lovely.

 

And the tunnel through it to The Moor was meant to have a monorail.

 

http://www.welovesheffield.uk/magazine/history-nostalgia/6-sheffields-aborted-monorail-plans.html

[Lex Luthor 10]

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?

[BIGLIL 10]

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.

 

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 .

Years ago when I was a child you could get the tram or bus all the way down the Moor and up London road , and many people, either shopping or going on a night out, would regularly use this route .

[Solomon1 10]

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

 

It is the pyramid

 

From whence our overlords rule

[Revel 10]

It's hideous.