Portland Works

In 1939, aged 14, I started my working life as an apprentice grinder working for my dad also called Herbert Housley. In those days there were three gas engines that provided the motive power to all the workshops. The engine tender was called Harry Marriot he and his wife were also the caretakes. They lived on the premises, the entrance to their living space was a door just inside the archway. Approximately a hundred people worked at Portland Works at that time, the skills they had in those days were a sight to behold. One such craftsman that comes to mind was Mr Turner, then around 80 years old, he was an Ivory Carver and his speciality was a set of ivory handles each one depicting one of Jesus's Apostles, when carved and polished he fitted them to a set of tea knives.

Promotion on other sites...

From Stuart Mitchel Knives...

I posted a link to the Blog on a UK based knife forum site I am quite active on, it is a very well run, responsible, set up, very highly regarded in knife circles...

Anyway, here's a link to the thread...

http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?t=73304&page=5

The actual topic of the thread may be of particular interest, and maybe this post too...

http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1109980&postcount=62

Sheffield Telegraph: Conversion opposed

Published Date: 27 February 2009

PLANS to convert a historic cutlery works into 77 flats and offices have run into opposition from leading Labour politicians, who say Sheffield's industrial heritage should be preserved,
Central MP Richard Caborn and Labour's parliamentary candidate for the constituency, Paul Blomfield, will today visit Portland Works in Randall Street, near Bramall Lane, which accommodates a number of businesses.

Mr Caborn said: "If the plans go ahead not only will a wonderful piece of architecture have its heart ripped out but traditional manufacturing companies are at risk of being lost from Sheffield."

Mr Blomfield said: "There aren't a lot of small metal manufacturing workshops in the city any more, so where small companies are still involved in the metal trade we should support them."

The works date back to the 1870s and are "one of Sheffield's most significant industrial buildings", according to the national Victorian Society, which is opposing the conversion scheme.

It was at the site that the first stainless steel was manufactured in Britain, produced in 1913 by R F Mosley and Co. A decision on the planning application will be made by the council.

http://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk/news/Conversion-opposed.5021877.jp


There is also an article in the Forge Press p11. http://issuu.com/forgepress/docs/binder1_issue_10_x_2?mode=embed

manufacturers, business, studios, mucians and artists

Just some of the people who are currently at Portland Works...


Link to artist Mary Sewell's work:
http://www.eveart-uk.co.uk/members/mary_s.html

Stuart Mitchell Knives:
http://www.stuartmitchellknives.com/

Portland Electrical:
http://www.portlandelectrical.co.uk/contactus.html

John Wilson Skating blades:
http://www.cozzisports.com/dante_cozzi_sports1_126.htm

Hexa Gig:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gulch/sets/72157613766588279/show/

If your studio or business is in portland works and you would like to add a link to your website or photos of what you do, please email me and I will post them.

Paul Bloomfield and Richard Caborn Visit Portland Works

"In order to save Portland Works we're going to need to make people aware of how important the place is. Getting media attention will be key to this so it was great to see the local TV news come down to cover the story."

Sheffield Central MP Richard Caborn and Paul Blomfield, Labour’s new Parliamentary Candidate for Sheffield Central, will be visiting Portland Works on Friday 27th February at 9:30am to look around the building and meet with tenants who are opposed to the plans to turn it into flats.

Portland Works, a Grade II Listed Building on Randall Street, is a former cutlery works and is under threat of being converted into apartments. Portland Works is currently home to a dozen manufacturing companies, many of whom are long term tenants and who would have considerable difficulty in relocating. Both the companies and residents have voiced concerns at the plans for Portland Works.

Richard Caborn says:
“I am totally opposed to the redevelopment plans for Portland Works and that is why I am fronting this campaign. If the plans go ahead not only will a wonderful piece of architecture have its heart ripped out but traditional manufacturing companies are at risk of being lost from Sheffield.”

Paul Blomfield says:
“There aren’t a lot of small metal manufacturing workshops in the city any more, so where small companies are still involved in the metal trade we should support them. Forcing these firms to move out would be a real loss. Portland Works is a major part of Sheffield’s industrial heritage so I hope the application is turned down.”

http://www.labourmatters.com/sheffield-central-labour/caborn-and-blomfield-fight-for-sheffields-heritage/

old council news...

25 September 2002

£4.5 Million For Sheffield's Heritage

Almost £4.5 million is to be invested into conserving Sheffield's heritage as plans by the City Council and the Cultural Industries Quarter Agency (CIQ) got the go ahead on Wednesday.
Cabinet approved proposals to seek funding from Objective One of £276, 000 as the final piece of the jigsaw for a multi-million package to bring back into use key historical and architecturally important buildings.

It will mean key buildings in the Cultural Industries Quarter such as Scotia Works, Butchers Works and Columbia Place will once again be home to business 'start ups' as they were in the nineteenth century. The future of Sheffield Metal Trades buildings such as Leah's Yard, Anglo Works on Trippet Lane and the Stag and Portland Works will also be secured.

Two initiatives - the Heritage Lottery Fund's Townscape Heritage Initiative (THI) and the Sheffield Metal Trades Heritage Economic Regeneration Scheme (HERS) - are being brought together to restore key buildings in the city centre. The THI scheme will focus on buildings in the Cultural Industries Quarter whereas the HERS scheme covers Metal Trades buildings in city centre conservation areas.

Already £276,000 has been secured from English Heritage over three years for Sheffield's Metal Trades buildings. A fund of £3,926,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Objective One, Regeneration monies, the Local Transport Plan and Section 106 is going into the Townscape Heritage Initiative.

The Council and the CIQ Agency will be attracting developers to renovate and restore these buildings to become homes to new businesses.


http://libplugins.sheffield.gov.uk/uttm/shownews.asp?title=316

Yorkshire Post article

Cutlery works change opposed

Published Date: 17 February 2009 By Martin Slack

CONSERVATIONISTS have launched a campaign to halt a development project which aims to transform a former cutlery works into new apartments and offices. A blueprint has been drawn up for Portland Works in Randall Street, Sheffield, which would see the Grade II listed building overhauled with part of it being demolished.But campaigners from the Victorian Society claim the plans put the historic building under threat, and have called on Sheffield Council to reject the scheme completely. Alex Baldwin, the society's conservation officer, said Portland Works was in the top six per cent of buildings of outstanding architectural and historical interest in the country. He added:

"We are very concerned that the changes needed to create a large number of flats in Portland Works will significantly alter the industrial character of this historic site.
This is a rare survival of the building type and an important part of Sheffield's history. Any alterations must take account of this and this application fails to do so."

According to documents held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the building was initially constructed in the late 1870s as one of Britain's first integrated cutlery works.In the building's listing document it is described as "an extremely good and complete example of a large, purpose-built cutlery works" and "very distinctive to the industrial identity of Sheffield".

It is thought that the first stainless steel to be manufactured in Britain was made at the site and at present the works is still home to several companies which manufacture metal products. According to the Victorian Society, the plans which have been submitted by a company called Portland Co would wipe out much of the historic detail in the building when it is converted into 77 flats. They claim the developers plan to strip out the original staircases, remove windows and doors, and build balconies on the side of the building, significantly altering its appearance. Objections have also been registered to the scheme by several businesses which currently operate from the site and neighbours, who claim that there is no need for the conversion project.In one letter sent to Sheffield Council the owner of a business says:

"We are a tenant at Portland Works, and have been operating from these premises for 51 years. We are a small manufacturing company, employing six people, producing light hand tools mainly for the building trade and are very proud to be able to brand these as made in Sheffield. Many of the businesses operating from Portland Works are still engaged in metalwork trades and as the works were built for such a purpose we do not believe they should even be considered for conversion."

The application has been supported in principle by English Heritage which told Sheffield Council planners:

"We welcome the prospect of this important metal trades complex being brought back into good repair and put to sustaining new uses. However we would urge you to ensure a full inspection is made by your conservation and design colleagues in order to assess the importance of surviving elements and features."

Planning officers at Sheffield Council are still considering the plans and the consultation responses received and will make a decision on the scheme in the next few weeks. Nobody from Portland Co was available to comment on the Victorian Society's objections or give further details about the project.

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/localnews/Cutlery-works-change-opposed.4987000.jp

The Master Cutler Visits

February, 2009. Wigfull Tools and Stuart Mitchell, Portland Works, Sheffield.

At the edge of Sheffield town centre, Portland Works is a survival of the old tenement factory style of premises. Built round a central courtyard, once housing a steam engine, the three storey buildings now house a variety of craftsmen and manufacturers. The Master and Mistress visited Wigfull Tools and were shown round by Andrew Cole, who explained the processes of making chisels, slate rippers, etc. The Master also visited Stuart Mitchell, a cutler making high-quality hunting knives. (Stuart also made the sword blade for the Millennium Sword, which was presented to the Company by Douglas Liversidge, Master Cutler, 1998).
The Master was introduced to the people at Portland Works by Company Freeman, Herbert Housley, who started his working life at the cutlery firm of R.F Mosley’s, which occupied the building before the Second World War. He expressed his worries to the Master, and those of the Works’ occupants, about the site’s possible closure and redevelopment for apartments.

From Cllr Jillian Creasy

1. Portland Works has been invalidated (for the reasons predicted), not withdrawn
2. Invalidated applications are taken off the website (though withdrawn ones are not)
So we can expect it to reappear if and when they show how they intend to treat the interior.
Jillian

NB. The (invalidated) application is avaialble to view however if you follow the links below! This is through doing an address search for the property.

The Full Application: 08/01850/FUL
http://planning.sheffield.gov.uk/publicaccess/tdc/dcapplication/application_detailview.aspx?KEYVAL=JYUXQGNYFY000&module=P3&hidereturn=trueThe Listed Buildings Application: 08/01851/LBC http://planning.sheffield.gov.uk/publicaccess/tdc/dcapplication/application_detailview.aspx?KEYVAL=JYUXQVNYFY000&module=P3&hidereturn=true

Material Considerations for Planning Applications

If you wish to object to a Planning Application it is important to know the reasons by which an officer can refuse an application. These are called ‘Material Considerations’ and are as follows:

Material considerations:

• Previous planning decisions (including appeal decisions)
  
• Proposals/policies in the development plan
  
• National guidance
  
• Loss of light/overshadowing
  
• Loss of privacy to a room through distance
  
• Visual amenity
  
• Adequacy of parking/loading/turning
  
• Highway safety, road layout/access
  
• Noise and disturbance resulting from use
  
• Hazardous materials
  
• Traffic generation
  
• Odours
  
• Loss of trees/green space
  
• Landscaping
  
• Impact upon a listed building or a conservation area
  
• Design, appearance and materials
  
• Disabled access
  
• Nature conservation
  
• Archaeology

Many people object for the reasons outlined below, which are not material considerations; these cannot be taken into account by the planning officer when considering an application.

Non-material considerations

• Loss in property value
  
• Loss of a private view
  
• Private disputes between neighbours e.g. land ownership
  
• Restrictive covenants
  
• Fence lines/boundary positions
  
• Personal morals or views about the application
  
• Ownership disputes
  
• Applicant’s motives
  
• Competition
  
• Issues covered by other legislation e.g. Highways Act
  
• Number of objections

It is possible that even if one of the objections made on the grounds of a material consideration is upheld, it will not prevent the proposed development going ahead, but rather a condition will be imposed on the application which must be fulfilled.

Conditions could include things such as stipulating the materials the work has to be made from, the height of the development, or in the case of a business that it can only operate between certain hours in order to control traffic and noise. With a Listed Building it is likely there will be a large number of conditions associated with the development to preserve the character of the development.

Sharrow Community Forum jmu March 2009

p.s this is as far as I understand it- anyone with more knowledge, please feel free to correct this!

Distinctive Sharrow Action Group

Distinctive Sharrow Action Group is a new group that comprises of people living, working and playing in Sharrow. Business people, students, musicians, activists, civic trust members, lecturers, architects, landscape architects, artists and people who are combinations of these things who all have an interest in Sharrow’s buildings, its places, spaces and connections. We want to act to improve it using their shared skills, knowledge and networks.

Our blog is http://sharrowaction.blogspot.com

Please contact us if you wish to be involved!

julia@sharowcf.org.uk

Portland Works Planning Application

It is possible to download all of the drawings, (plans sections elevations), comments and statements that form the application to convert Portland Works into flats from the Sheffield City Council Website www.sheffield.gov.uk/planning or from the links on the post below. Unfortunately they are too large to post here.

I can however send out some hard copies of this information. If you would like a copy, please contact me at julia@sharrowcf.org.uk

Link To Portland Works Planing Application (withdrawn)

This will link you to the application for converting Portland Works into flats... It has currently been invalidated due to incomplete information. I will keep you informed if it is resubmitted.

The Full Application: 08/01850/FUL
http://planning.sheffield.gov.uk/publicaccess/tdc/dcapplication/application_detailview.aspx?KEYVAL=JYUXQGNYFY000&module=P3&hidereturn=true


The Listed Buildings Application: 08/01851/LBC http://planning.sheffield.gov.uk/publicaccess/tdc/dcapplication/application_detailview.aspx?KEYVAL=JYUXQVNYFY000&module=P3&hidereturn=true

The key things to note are the case officer, which will be Trevor Sulivan. There will also be a listed buildings officer assigned when the new application is made.

portland works

From Cllr Jillian Creasy

I will contact Trevor Sullivan and head of planning to find out what is supposed to happen when applications are invalidated.

I will contact Richard Caborn to find out what he is actually doing about approaching English Heritage.

I suggested it would be good to get Lib Dems interested as they can influence regen funds (to an extent!) and planing decisions (in as much as they are not strictly quasi judicial!). The people to go for would be

Sylvia.Dunkley@sheffield.gov.uk Cabinet Member for culture, very interested in heritage sites

Sylvia.Anginotti@sheffield.gov.uk Cabinet Member for employment and enterprise

works in the john street triangle