Sheffield Winter Garden and Peace Gardens

Sheffield Winter gardens is loved by many of  the people of Sheffield almost as much  for the fact  that it, and the hotel next door, replaced a monstrosity of the 1970s (called locally the Egg Box), an extension   to the very attractive Victorian town hall,  as for the architecture of the building, the very interesting plants within it or even the fact that  entry is free.

It was officially opened by HM the Queen in  May 2003. Even lovers of 1970s architecture must acknowledge the great improvement that has been made.

It is one of the largest temperate glasshouses to be built in the UK for a century and is claimed by Sheffield City Council to be the largest urban glasshouse anywhere in Europe. There are over  2,000 plants from all around the world. It has an intelligent Building Management System which controls fans and vents to ensure the plants are cooled in summer and kept warm in winter and which is said to learn how to respond to ambient weather changes over the long term by developing a management regime bespoke to the particular building.

The glasshouse was a major component part of the, so called, “Heart of the City”  regeneration project which cost £120 million. This 70 metre long and 21 metre high building was designed by Pringle Richards Sharratt Architects and Buro Happold and  the structural works were constructed of a glued laminated timber material. It is one of the largest buildings of this type of construction in the UK. The larch timber used was harvested  from sustainable forests and  requires no preservatives.

For fans of the game of snooker many of the  famous player can be seen being interviewed for TV here  during  the World Championships annually held in the nearby Crucible Theatre.

Next to the Winter Garden is a fantastic outdoor space known as the Peace Gardens which were first laid out in 1938. Originally named St Paul’s Gardens for the name of the demolished church upon which they  were built. Ironically it is said that they were nicknamed the “Peace Gardens” to mark  the signing of the Munich  agreement which certainly did little to maintain peace and may have even contributed to the prospect of war. Despite this legacy the name stuck and the gardens were officially named as such after WW2.

During the “Heart of the City” development process the architectural consultants proposed converting the gardens into a multi-purpose  square but the people  of Sheffield expressed a preference for a garden.

The garden now has fountains  at the centre, and cascades around the outside. These are said  to represent the movement of molten steel  which made Sheffield famous, and also the waters of Sheffield’s  five rivers  which, before (and, in some places, well after) the era of steam,  were used to power tilt hammers, grinding wheels and furnace bellows which were the basis of Sheffield’s industry.

The site contains several memorials for Sheffield people who served in  various wars, including, unusually in the UK,  in the International Brigade during the Spanish Civil War, and a memorial, unveiled on Hiroshima Day 1985 in the presence of 3 Hiroshima  survivors.