News: Events centre plan for former Rotherham offices
A vacant business centre on a massive steelworks site in Rotherham is being brought back into use.
Built for British Steel in the 1970s and later used as an enterprise data centre and office accommodation, the 41,138 sq ft building on Aldwarke Lane was previously home to Capgemini, a French multinational professional services and business consulting corporation, that relocated its Rotherham office to Sheffield in 2018.
Part of Aldwarke Business Centre first came back into use in 2023 as the home of Unity Boxing - a community interest company that has developed a space for local communities to engage in boxing.
Now work is underway to create function space and a conference suite in another part of the site.
Plans from Aldwarke Developments Ltd were approved in 2023 for a change of use enabling 10,700 sq ft of floor space at first floor level in the eastern part of the building to go from office use to a mixed use comprising of office use during the day and function room during other times.
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In approving the plans Rotherham Council planners said that: "Whilst the proposed use does not strictly accord with the local plan policies [for industrial use], the building has a history of use as an office and the extended use into the evening as a function room is not considered to have any impact on the daytime viability of the site. As such it is considered to be acceptable in principle."
A planner's report confirmed that "the conference suite is to be used entirely as a private event hire venue for assembly and leisure purposes. The space will be available to hire for people to host parties and celebrations."
Given that public transport options in the area don't exist and there are only 75 parking spaces, the council's highways team had originally raised concerns. But having heard that the use is expected to be limited entirely to evenings and weekends – i.e., non-peak hours, highways officers concluded that there should not be any adverse impact on the highway.
The planning permission came with a condition that functions could only take place between 6pm and midnight Monday to Friday, and noon to midnight on Saturday and Sunday.
With work now underway to the exterior, Aldwarke Developments Ltd has recently had plans approved for changes to the entrance of the car park at the prominent site.
Images: Google Maps / CPR
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Built for British Steel in the 1970s and later used as an enterprise data centre and office accommodation, the 41,138 sq ft building on Aldwarke Lane was previously home to Capgemini, a French multinational professional services and business consulting corporation, that relocated its Rotherham office to Sheffield in 2018.
Part of Aldwarke Business Centre first came back into use in 2023 as the home of Unity Boxing - a community interest company that has developed a space for local communities to engage in boxing.
Now work is underway to create function space and a conference suite in another part of the site.
Plans from Aldwarke Developments Ltd were approved in 2023 for a change of use enabling 10,700 sq ft of floor space at first floor level in the eastern part of the building to go from office use to a mixed use comprising of office use during the day and function room during other times.
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In approving the plans Rotherham Council planners said that: "Whilst the proposed use does not strictly accord with the local plan policies [for industrial use], the building has a history of use as an office and the extended use into the evening as a function room is not considered to have any impact on the daytime viability of the site. As such it is considered to be acceptable in principle."
A planner's report confirmed that "the conference suite is to be used entirely as a private event hire venue for assembly and leisure purposes. The space will be available to hire for people to host parties and celebrations."
The planning permission came with a condition that functions could only take place between 6pm and midnight Monday to Friday, and noon to midnight on Saturday and Sunday.
With work now underway to the exterior, Aldwarke Developments Ltd has recently had plans approved for changes to the entrance of the car park at the prominent site.
Images: Google Maps / CPR
Rotherham
