Shoppers on one of Sheffield’s busiest shopping streets face at least a further 12 months of disruption under plans to rejuvenate the city.

Fargate is cluttered with construction from West Street to the Moor causing inconvenience for traders and shoppers. 

But the good news is in a year’s time, according to the the city council, the city centre should look remarkably different.

A long list of major regeneration projects, including the £500m long-awaited Heart of the City II, is taking shape.

Shoppers and traders worry that the mess of the street will last beyond the 1 year projection, as many constructions like this do. 

Shopper Alice Cosgrove, 23, said: “I doubt everything will be finished within schedule, town looks so cluttered and its a nuisance but if they’re spending this much it must be worthwhile. I hope they actually finish because it looks bad.”

The events calendar is packed with multiple ambitious projects worth hundreds of millions of pounds. 

All this means more shops, restaurants, offices, homes, and developments for the public.

 

An artists impression of the new look 

Fargate is to benefit from new planting, seating areas, trees and improvements to shop frontages with some fresh paving already down.

Councillor Ben Miskell, chair of regeneration for Sheffield City Council, said: “2024 is going to be a really exciting year, we are going to start seeing the city centre transform. Not only will there be more shops, places for Sheffield people to eat and drink but it will also become even more a destination for the wider region.

One of the construction workers at the site said: “Plans this big do take time, we do hope to stay on track but really you never know. I do feel for people trying to get business where we partially block them and I know its defiantly noisy and unappealing to look at but we hope it will be worthwhile for Sheffield.”

Work on the street itself, but not individual buildings, is due to be completed by the end of 2024. So for now the people of Sheffield will have to put up with the eyesore that is Fargate.