Rehabilitation of Park Hill Estate in Sheffield
Park Hill is ranked as the largest listed building development in Europe. Situated on an elevation above Sheffield station, it consists of a series of 4- to 13-storey-high housing strips that follow the topography of the site, all rising to the same level and dominating the city like a crown. On their completion in 1961, the brutalist structures, with 995 publicly sup-ported dwellings, were regarded – and not alone by the architects – as a new venture, a modern, ambitious symbol of future housing development. The centre of this industrial city had been extensively bombed in the Second World War, and the dilapidated worker housing in the area was among the first in the country to be demolished. In place of the rows of congested back-to-back dwellings, the city architect designed a north English variant of “the machine for living in”. Inspired by a competition scheme by the Smithsons as well as by the work of Le Corbusier, this monumental development created narrow, multi-storey housing strips oriented on two faces, with cross-ventilation, a great deal of daylight, and extensive views over the city.
