Office-to-resi conversion lined up for Sheffield building
The application, submitted by developer iLiving, proposes changing the use of the vacant 26,000 sq ft Foundry House at 3 Millsands into 46 apartments.
Foundry House is owned by Custodian Property Income REIT, which acquired the building for £3.56m in 2018.
The scheme would see the building reconfigured internally to create 46 self-contained apartments, with no extension or external alterations proposed, meaning the existing appearance of the building would remain largely unchanged.
Foundry House forms part of the Riverside Exchange, an established office location in Sheffield city centre.
Constructed in the early 2000s, the four-storey building is predominantly brick-built and features double-glazed, aluminium-framed windows.
The proposal would retain the existing pedestrian and vehicular access from Millsands, with no new or altered access points planned.
A Transport Statement prepared by Dice Consulting Engineers concludes that the surrounding highway network is capable of accommodating the proposed change of use without creating unacceptable transport or highway impacts.
The statement highlights the site’s sustainable city centre location, with good pedestrian, cycling, and public transport connections.
It also concludes that the residential scheme would not materially increase traffic movements compared with the building’s existing lawful office use and that there is no evidence of an existing highway safety deficiency associated with the site access.
The application comes as Sheffield’s city centre continues to see the conversion of existing commercial space into residential accommodation, amid changing demand for office space and pressure to deliver additional city centre homes.
