City could leapfrog its rivals as it looks to ‘be something different’
Chamber champions Sheffield for its potential green growth, beating Leeds and Manchester
THE current and former presidents of Sheffield Chamber of Commerce have said they believe the city has the potential to “leapfrog” Leeds and Manchester in terms of green growth.
Speaking to The Yorkshire Post, current president Alexis Krachai and former president Karen Mosley said that the city could have an advantage against its larger Northern counterparts in terms of developing environmentally friendly living and working spaces.
Mr Krachai said: “Manchester has already built thousands of homes in the city, and this is not about passing judgement on the quality of those homes, but they were built at a time when sustainability was not as important as it is now.
“We’re about to build 20,000 new homes in the city, so inherently they will be more sustainable homes, because the economy and society now demands it. It's not really a choice any more, and because we’re coming from a relatively low base, we have an opportunity to really leapfrog others.
“Sheffield has always had a close relationship with nature because of our hills and rivers as well, and I think that's where those green credentials will come to the fore over the coming years.”
“We’re a city that is already getting ready to display the resilience that many cities are going to need to show over the next couple of decades."
A number of major redevelopment projects are currently underway in Sheffield city centre, including the £470m Heart of the City scheme.
The development plans to transform 1.5m sq ft of space in the city centre, including living space, retail and leisure destinations and offices. The scheme also includes the seven-storey Elshaw House building, which has been described as Sheffield’s most eco-friendly office building.
Sheffield’s Fargate area is also in the middle of a major upgrade after the city received £15.8m from the Future High Streets Fund.
The redevelopment will see the outdoor areas in the section of the city transformed with new landscaping and green planting, as well as pocket parks designed to catch, store, absorb and then clean rainwater. The miniature parks will also aim to attract insects and birds to the city centre.
Mr Krachai’s comments were echoed by Ms Mosley, who stepped down as president in January of this year after two years in the post.
She said: “I feel that Sheffield is at a stage where we’re unshackled to a certain extent. We’re not tied to something from the past, we’ve actually got some clear water to really leapfrog and be something different, and that's what is quite exciting.
“It feels like we’ve got the opportunity where we aren't tied to something that we made a big investment in years ago which is no longer relevant, and we can re-imagine the future of our city and what it can be.
“I think it's about creating offices and destinations worth the commute. It's about changing the purpose of our city centre to be more relevant to how we live today. Leeds and Manchester might already be office and retail dense, but we’re looking at living in the city and it being a real destination.”
Mr Krachai added: “There is without a doubt a huge amount of building work going on in the city, but that's brilliant, because it means we’re building the first of the new types of city centres we’re going to see coming forwards. We’re building one of the cities of the future.”