Blast From The Past... Remember These ?

[Sheffield History]

[DaveH]

I do indeed! This might be quite controversial, but I liked both of them. People these days seem to think buildings should only last about 30 years before they pull them down. And in the case of Sheffield City Council, they don't even last that long!

I actually agree with you andy1702.

There have been too many Sheffield buildings with ridiculously short life scans before being demolished and replaced.

What a waste of money.

[DaveH]

Most Sheffielders will refer to these buildings as "the egg box" and "the wedding cake", but I think their official titles are, -

The Town Hall Extension (egg box)

Sheffield Registry Office (wedding cake)

[DaveH]

Wedding cake was a nice building, I got married there in 1987.

These days with the wedding cake gone most weddings not taking place in a church seem to take place in the Town Hall itself.

[saw119]

I often wonder to myself, what is the shortest lived building in Sheffield? My guess would be the Broomhall flats. I don't know exactly when built (70/71?) and empty by about '84. That's some going even by Sheffield standards. They were absolutely appalling though, and I speak as someone who lived in them.

[DaveH]

I often wonder to myself, what is the shortest lived building in Sheffield? My guess would be the Broomhall flats. I don't know exactly when built (70/71?) and empty by about '84. That's some going even by Sheffield standards. They were absolutely appalling though, and I speak as someone who lived in them.

I think Broomhall Street flats were built in the 60s, - not sure when exactly.

By 1971 my uncle and his family were living there and the buildings were already showing signs of mould and damp due to their construction from prefabricated concrete blocks and poor ventilation.

[saw119]

Even taking that into consideration I'd be surprised if they lasted 20 years.

[ukelele lady]

Yes it was the late sixties but it was a bad omen from the beginning when the concrete slabs collapsed

like dominoes and crushed all those workers. It seems to have been a bad design from the beginning.

[DaveH]

Yes it was the late sixties but it was a bad omen from the beginning when the concrete slabs collapsed

like dominoes and crushed all those workers. It seems to have been a bad design from the beginning.

can't remember exactly when my uncle frank moved there, but by 1971 he was definitely there, in the 60s he lived at Handsworth, S13 so he probably moved into the flats when they were new towards the end of the 60s.

[hilldweller]

I think Broomhall Street flats were built in the 60s, - not sure when exactly.

By 1971 my uncle and his family were living there and the buildings were already showing signs of mould and damp due to their construction from prefabricated concrete blocks and poor ventilation.

I'm sure that the flats were under construction in 1966. I know this because I made a trip to a bookshop on Ecclesall Road to buy the Newnes Electricians Year Book, for 1966 needed for my studies, it is still going mouldy in my workshop.

On the way back I made a close inspection of the pre-fabricated construction which also included pre-fabricated electrical wiring systems.

These comprised of straight lengths of open-joint oval steel conduit with already threaded single insulated conduit cables. The straight lengths were for the switch drops and the runs over the ceilings to light fittings. Corners were provided for by 9" lengths of very ropey looking flexible steel conduit originally fastened to the straight bits with screw clamps, most of which were missing

As I walked on I spied a huge and I mean huge, tangled pile of wiring systems, exposed to the elements and lying on the mud.

At this point a experienced electrician of about fourteen came and gave the pile an intense perusal.

He eventually dived in and grabbed a switch back-box and proceeded to walk away from the pile dragging about 15 metres of very damaged wiring system behind him. Water was pouring out of rusty back boxes and it was obvious that the sharp conduit ends where the clamps were missing were cutting into the cable insulation. I watched him fasten it to the wall and ceilings with 6" nails bent over and squashing the conduit.

I'll bet they used "Mains Meggering" i.e. don't bother testing but switch on and listen to where the BANG comes from.

I made a mental resolve no matter how bad things got, never to consider a job with the SWD or was it PWD at that time

HD.

[DaveH]

1966-67 would sound about right HD

[hilldweller]

Not on topic but I hope you don't mind.

Further to my earlier post about SWD or PWD snarl ups I'll tell you a tale about their performance in the seventies.

Early one morning I received a call for help from an old dear who frequented the Cobden View pub where I also sometimes imbibed.

She lived in a council flat next door to the pub.

When I got there cold water was pouring out of the hot water supply header tank.

The washer on the ball valve had disintegrated and water was pouring out of a hole in the side of the tank where the overflow should have been fitted. Of the overflow there was no sign and certainly no hole through to outside.

She told me she'd phoned the repair dept number but they told her that it would be logged for fixing "sometime".

Of course I'd turned the cold supply off at the mains which left her with no hot or cold water and an unflushable toilet. There were no isolating valves fitted.

There was also the matter of hundreds of gallons of water which had disappeared through the floorboards into the flat below.

She wouldn't let me mend the washer because she'd already reported it.and then I had a brainwave. There was a SWD or PWD depot on the edge of the Bolehills. I steamed up there and found the place deserted apart from one very large hut which appeared from the noise to have a Sheffield United home game going on inside. A bloke came out and started to walk away, I explained the situation, he said "No Chance" and carried on walking.

At this point I opened the door and walked in. There were about sixty blokes sat at tables and playing cards or picking winners out of the paper.

An angry roar went up and a little bloke in a smock hurried me back outside so fast my feet didn't touch the ground.

I asked him who was in charge and he told me he was. I then explained the urgency of the situation and he told me I would have to report it through the proper channels.

I told him he was the boss and why couldn't he get someone to go down the road and fix it.

He told me that they wouldn't listen to him and that the "unions" ran the outfit and that if he made a fuss his union card would be withdrawn and he would lose his job with the "closed shop" council.

I gave up at this point, returned to the flat, and fitted a new washer which would solve the problem at least till the next washer went.

The old lady was petrified that she'd get into trouble when the council came, but they never did 'so no worries. I doubt anyone has installed an overflow to this day.

I am reminded of the two BSC plants in Sheffield, the one in Stocksbridge where tradesmen were prepared to be adaptable in an emergency, the unions didn't hold much sway. The other one at Tinsley Park where there was no need for security, that was taken care of by a team of full-time union officials, paid by the company, who wouldn't let anyone on the plant unless they displayed the correct union card for the job in hand. They sat in a little wooden hut by the entrance and sent contractors away if they didn't have the right paid-up membership.

The upshot of all this was that Tinsley Park's productivity was below Stocksbridges' and the Stocksbridge site remained open years after Tinsley Park was shut down. Parts of Stocksbridge are indeed still working.

HD