Current Initiatives and Future Developments

Sheffield recognises the need to continue investing in the city to attract investment and maintain our business friendly approach. We are committed to investing in the city centre, high quality public realm, the city region’s infrastructure, sustainable energy, and looking to create public investment funds to lever private sector capital to assist development and inward investment.

So what’s happening?

City Deal – transfers power from Whitehall to put the city region in charge of a ground breaking business led skills model including a £700m Sheffield City Region investment fund for strategic infrastructure investment, the power to create an efficient transport network connecting people to jobs with guaranteed funding for 10 years, and a sourcing roadmap in recognition of the city region’s advanced manufacturing and nuclear expertise.
Enterprise Zone - The Sheffield City Region Enterprise Zone comprises of a number of well-connected development areas along the M1 corridor, where a range of Enterprise Zone Incentives are available to encourage growth and investment by hi-tech firms. These areas have prioritised the development of modern manufacturing and technology-based enterprises.

City centre key planned developments:

The Moor – this retail area is undergoing significant changes over the next few years with the first phase of a long term redevelopment plan. Sheffield City Council will develop a high quality public realm at the Moor Head in 2012 and start onsite with a new £17m purpose built indoor market open by Christmas 2013. In addition, Scottish Widows Investment Partnership, with their partner Ashcroft, have secured planning permission to redevelop a 55,000 sq ft retail block at the junction with Furnival Gate.
Sevenstone (The New Retail Quarter) – is the creation of a new retail area in the city centre in and around Barkers Pool/Cambridge Street, combining new and refurbished buildings and new streets.

Essential infrastructure:

High Speed Rail - The Department for Transport (DfT) has announced the new High Speed Rail (HSR) network will serve the Sheffield City Region. The DfT confirmed that a station will be built in Sheffield as part of the second phase of HSR. By linking the Leeds City Region, the Sheffield City Region and the East Midlands, high speed rail will connect an area of 6.7 million people and journeys from Sheffield to London will reduce from 2hrs 7mins to 1hr 15 mins.
District Energy Network - the largest in the UK operated by Veolia Environmental Services Sheffield; 44km of pipeline spread across 2 networks. In addition to the development of Blackburn Meadows biomass power station there are plans for a new district heat network in the Lower Don Valley linked to the existing city centre network.
Bus Rapid Transit - BRT - South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (SYPTE) along with Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council and Sheffield City Council are introducing an enhanced travel system between Rotherham and Sheffield crossing the Sheffield City Region Enterprise Zone.
Midland Mainline electrification – from Sheffield to London at a cost of £500 million which could reduce journey times to as little as one hour and 45 minutes by 2019 (currently 2 hours 4 minutes) and reduced innercity journey times to Derby, Nottingham and Leicester. Changes include improved freight access.
The Hope Valley Corridor & Northern Hub - A transformational scheme to deliver faster, more frequent and more reliable rail services right across the North of England, at a cost of £530m. The Hope Valley Corridor improvements support connectivity between Sheffield and Manchester city regions.