Demolition of 23-25 Haymarket –
Another unique piece of valuable townscape heritage lost
The dangerous condition of the Tudor style facade at 23-25 Haymarket (once the premises of Wiley & Co.) came to light in late August when an apparent dispute between the owner Brijesh Patel and his scaffolders had the scaffolding contractor threatening to remove their property, risking an immediate collapse of the facade.
An on-site meeting was held with Sheffield City Council, The Health & Safety Executive and the Scaffolding contractor. The owner was invited but failed to attend or respond to the invite. This meeting led to the decision that urgent measures were needed before the structure collapsed into Haymarket with the obvious danger to the public that would involve.
Sheffield City Council acted swiftly and met with the Heritage sector, that took place on 10th September, and after a discussion it was agreed that SCC would undertake a structural survey and potential next steps were discussed. Unfortunately all those at the meeting agreed this would likely involve some form of demolition.
On receipt of the structural report, a series of options were presented, none of which were ideal but The Victorian Society and Hallamshire Historic Buildings, on behalf of the heritage sector, reluctantly agreed that demolition was inevitable. An option was put forward to effectively deconstruct the facade carefully and piecemeal, saving as much of the fabric as possible for future use and reconstruction. Both the engineers and the Council’s demolition contractors felt this would work and it was agreed that this option, including a comprehensive recording and photography programme be begun.
By the 23rd September SCC were on site and Environmental Health were working to make the site safe. The neglect of five years making the area very dangerous.
Wiley & Co facade demolished – Photo Nigel Slack
Complications arose to derail this carefully planned approach when in the last week of September the owner, Brijesh Patel, turned up and tried to force SCC from the site. SCC stood their ground and, despite empty threats to turn up and demolish anyway, it was not until the first week of October that the owner took over the demolition programme and SCC withdrew from the site.
In a press release on 18th October by SCC welcomed the owners involvement but it seems this was misplaced.
“Given the importance of the façade, we have requested the owner removes the structure in such a way as to record it as extensively as possible and stores the historically important elements for possible reuse. We hope this is something the owner is willing to do” – Cllr Ben Miskell
Brijesh Patel’s contractors began demolition on the weekend of 19th/20th October and by the Monday had removed the Cupola and Gable at the top of the facade. It took them only three more days to bring the facade down to the ground floor level and one witness described the workmen simply hitting it with lump hammers, dropping it into the space behind.
Since then we understand that there are no intact pieces of fabric remaining and that, despite the urging of SCC elected members, there has been no programme of recording and photographing undertaken.
This owner has now become one more in a litany of developers that have neglected their responsibilities and have ignored the wishes of the City Council’s Officers and Councillors. The only plus point is that by demolishing the facade, which it proposed to retain in it’s planning application, Brijesh Patel’s original planning permission should be voided, including recent amendments, and he will have to apply for new permissions.
We would encourage SCC Planning to carefully consider the owner recreating this unique and important townscape facade in their future decisions.