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Anybody miss this?


dunsbyowl1867

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Deeply ugly.

But to tell the truth, I remember when it was built and as a kid first seeing it I thought it looked fantastic.

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Could have looked worse. lol

Why is there a likeness of Tim Curry on that lamp? ;-)

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Why is there a likeness of Tim Curry on that lamp? ;-)

It's not Tim Curry, it was a joke for another forum (SF) in a topic about Tony Blair.

I hve improved the Egg Box picture slightly. :P

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It's not Tim Curry, it was a joke for another forum (SF) in a topic about Tony Blair.

I hve improved the Egg Box picture slightly. :P

Sorry, I realised that - it was my attempt at a joke though it could be - separated at birth ?

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Guest Tigeratplay

Rocky Horror Show and New Town Hall extension same year??? The Rocky Horror Show has stood the test of time much better!

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I worked in the egg-box from time to time.There was a lot of criticism when it was built, particularly about the cost of the red wall tiles in the payments office, which cost a fortune. The Council's answer was that the extension was built to last, just like the Town Hall.

The building was hermetically sealed. There was no heating, it was carefully calculated on the number of people in the building generating their own heat, plus natural heating from outside, plus heat from the basement carpark.

Unfortunately Council funding hit the buffers soon after completion, so they closed a number of offices around the city centre and crammed everyone into the egg-box, greatly upsetting the careful calculations. Result - sick building syndrome.

On the top floor was a staff restaurant, which covered about half the area of the top of the building. In the space next to it they built a raised lawn. To reduce weight they had the clever idea of planting the grass in a polystyrene sheet instead of soil. Great idea. Grass germinated nicely and grew. Unfortunately the first gale lifted the lot and away it sailed.

On the ground floor was the computer suite, housing the Council mainframe. Below it was the basement carpark, supported on pillars. This was open to the public on Saturdays, and someone realised at the height of the troubles in Northern ireland, and attacks on mainland cities, that one vehicle packed with explosives parked next to the correct pillar would result in the mainframe being relocated to the basement very quickly. But it was never going to happen, so no-one thought it was worth doing anything.

I didn't mind the egg-box, I suppose working next door it grew on me. However, after they demolished it the view that was opened up was great, and changed the whole feel of the city centre. Shame someone came and built yet another hotel in the way!

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With regard to the old egg boxes town hall extensions. One of my best mates used to know the architect's daughter. Apparently the original effect of the building relied on the design being finished in high quality granite or portland stone (I can't remember exactly). They were massively annoyed when the council took the design and made it cheap by changing the material to nasty prefabricated cement....

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The original plans/specifications would make an interesting read. Was this Sheffield's most horrendous building ? or does that honour belong to the MSC building or something else ?

With regard to the old egg boxes town hall extensions. One of my best mates used to know the architect's daughter. Apparently the original effect of the building relied on the design being finished in high quality granite or portland stone (I can't remember exactly). They were massively annoyed when the council took the design and made it cheap by changing the material to nasty prefabricated cement....

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The original plans/specifications would make an interesting read. Was this Sheffield's most horrendous building ? or does that honour belong to the MSC building or something else ?

MSC building is much uglier than the egg box.

Egg box extension was full of Sheffielders, MSC was full of imported Southerners.

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Certainly somewhat more prominent. What year was it spawned from the Devil please ? (I do remember it, can't place the year)

MSC building is much uglier than the egg box.

Egg box extension was full of Sheffielders, MSC was full of imported Southerners.

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Certainly somewhat more prominent. What year was it spawned from the Devil please ? (I do remember it, can't place the year)

1979-80

I have posted a picture of it being built somewhere on here.

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Just as the original spec for the 'egg-box' was abandoned , the design of the 'ziggurat' was changed. It was designed as a series of open-plan offices. However, when the civil servants saw it they refused to work in it until it was divided into partitioned offices, each with its own door, on which the occupants' names could be attached. The company that got the doors contract made a fortune!

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Just as the original spec for the 'egg-box' was abandoned , the design of the 'ziggurat' was changed. It was designed as a series of open-plan offices. However, when the civil servants saw it they refused to work in it until it was divided into partitioned offices, each with its own door, on which the occupants' names could be attached. The company that got the doors contract made a fortune!

Is the ziggurat the MSC building?

To us this was originally named "The Aztec Temple" due to its similarity to an American stepped pyramid, but later it was called "The Dalek City" due to it's similarity to the city on the planet skaro which appeared in either the very first Dr. Who encounter with the Daleks (1963) or from the film version "DR. Who and the Daleks" (1965), and also because those southerners who worked in the MSC were like a load of Daleks.

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I do remember visiting the place only to find the walls, doors, layouts changing everytime you visited.

Just as the original spec for the 'egg-box' was abandoned , the design of the 'ziggurat' was changed. It was designed as a series of open-plan offices. However, when the civil servants saw it they refused to work in it until it was divided into partitioned offices, each with its own door, on which the occupants' names could be attached. The company that got the doors contract made a fortune!

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Just as the original spec for the 'egg-box' was abandoned , the design of the 'ziggurat' was changed. It was designed as a series of open-plan offices. However, when the civil servants saw it they refused to work in it until it was divided into partitioned offices, each with its own door, on which the occupants' names could be attached. The company that got the doors contract made a fortune!

I'm sure you've heard all this before.......

Not only that, the building (aka moorfoot mountain, pramid etc.. ) was the first. There was supposed to be a second building built south. If you remember there was a foot bridge built in the air that just finished. That was supposidly to lead to another pyramid, or at least another section of the building that was never started.

Other features of the building have proved interesting debate over the years such as the basement bomb shelter and the monorail slot, with retail units.

The first being some kind of facility beneath the building to house the staff should an atomic bomb be fired, and the second is the gated passageway, which was closed when the government department decided that pedestrian passageway between the Moor and London road would risk an IRA bomb threat. So they fitted gates.

Before the gates were fitted, the idea was that the moorfoot building would still allow shoppers to continue and use shops at the top of london road as an extension of the moor. There was even some retail units along the passage that have never been used.

If you look at the gates covering the tunnel through the building they are around 3 times taller than would reasonably be neccesary. Apparently this is because for decades the council has been talking about a mass transport system such as a tram or monorail. And so they thought that such a hole might be large neough to accommodate a monorail above the pedestrians, however, no official confirmation of this has ever been forthcoming.

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God Help us, a second pyramid ?!?

I'm sure you've heard all this before.......

Not only that, the building (aka moorfoot mountain, pramid etc.. ) was the first. There was supposed to be a second building built south. If you remember there was a foot bridge built in the air that just finished. That was supposidly to lead to another pyramid, or at least another section of the building that was never started.

Other features of the building have proved interesting debate over the years such as the basement bomb shelter and the monorail slot, with retail units.

The first being some kind of facility beneath the building to house the staff should an atomic bomb be fired, and the second is the gated passageway, which was closed when the government department decided that pedestrian passageway between the Moor and London road would risk an IRA bomb threat. So they fitted gates.

Before the gates were fitted, the idea was that the moorfoot building would still allow shoppers to continue and use shops at the top of london road as an extension of the moor. There was even some retail units along the passage that have never been used.

If you look at the gates covering the tunnel through the building they are around 3 times taller than would reasonably be neccesary. Apparently this is because for decades the council has been talking about a mass transport system such as a tram or monorail. And so they thought that such a hole might be large neough to accommodate a monorail above the pedestrians, however, no official confirmation of this has ever been forthcoming.

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A few more and in a couple of thousand years tourists would flock to see the great pyramids of Sheffield.

Only if we stuff and bandage the City Councillors and bury them in the pyramids along with loads of their valuable ill- gotten goodies.

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There was supposed to be a second building built south. If you remember there was a foot bridge built in the air that just finished. That was supposidly to lead to another pyramid, or at least another section of the building that was never started.

Was this it in this picture?

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Only if we stuff and bandage the City Councillors and bury them in the pyramids along with loads of their valuable ill- gotten goodies.

Temptation, temptation...

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