St Pauls

Conran & Partners has completed Sheffield’s tallest building two years after construction halted.

The £40 million St Paul’s Apartments project was beset with troubles in 2008 when construction ground to a halt and the client’s parent company, City Lofts Inc, went into administration.

Project architect and Conran managing director Tim Bowder-Ridger said it had been “touch and go” for a while.

He praised the contractor, Shepherd Construction, for “battling on” to finish the 32-storey tower.

“We have been working on this for a number of years and despite a horrendous recession we managed to complete it. We’re quite proud,” he said.

“We do an awful lot of work in Japan so we’re used to everyone pulling together as a team. This was a rare example of that happening in the UK where it’s usually a confrontational business.”

But back in 2008 there was a very public spat between the developer and the council over the cladding which brought construction to a temporary halt. The developer was forced to deny claims that cheap plastic would be used instead of glass.

The 101-metre tower was finished with 700 pre-glazed panels which were installed at the rate of a floor a week without the need for scaffolding. The bronze shades were chosen to bring warmth to Sheffield’s often grey skies.

Conran originally envisaged the tower 10 storeys lower but, unusally, the council encouraged the practice to build higher so it would be signpost the city centre for people arriving by train.

Built on a hill it is linked to its 14-storey sandstone sister by a fourth-storey landscaped garden. Together they contain 316 apartments above two floors of cafés, retail and leisure facilities.

The scheme is part of the Heart of the City development in the city centre and is surrounded by a number of office blocks and a car park all designed by Allies and Morrison.