b: How To Repurpose An Abandoned Department Store
So this is definitely not my forté, OK? As per my Twitter handle I'm technology, psychology and sometimes sociology (yes I'm also philosophy, music and literature, but let's not complicate things). Anyway, I live in Sheffield and am currently working out of swanky new offices in the city centre; the same city centre that's currently being redeveloped under the Heart of the City initiative.
Every lunchtime I go for a little walk and check out all the wonderful new stuff that is being created in town. However, there's a bit of a fly in this well-planned ointment. It is that the John Lewis (and to a lesser extent, Debenhams) department stores that were meant to occupy central positions in the scheme have shut, John Lewis has closed its Sheffield store and the Debenhams group has gone bust.
So there are now two large and empty stores slap-bang in the heart of the city, to coin a phrase. I've also noticed that some of the outlets which occupied units created in the first phase of the Heart of the City programme appear to have closed or are closing: Gap Outlet, plus Pizza Express and GBK in The Light complex.
I know the pandemic will have much to do with this, but even so, we're building a new city centre - we can't afford for its heart to be an empty one.
Thus during these daily wanderings I pass the empty John Lewis and Debenhams buildings and think to myself 'what can be done?'. As part of the thought experiment I rule out the following:
a) attracting a new department store to occupy the spaces (unlikely, as they are a dying breed)
b) demolishing to create flats/car parking/offices (otherwise known as a failure of imagination).
Recently an answer came to me. It's bonkers, possibly prohibitively expensive and very likely impractical - but isn't that true of all the best ideas?
Ladies and gentlemen, councillors and developers, I give you the Sheffield Festihotel concept (yes, I've completely made that up)!
Hear me out - OK? I attend two or three festivals each year (pandemic excepting) and always enjoy the experience. They are also incredibly popular with young people - I think that it's something to do with the fact that festivals offer a complete party experience: a bounded space in which to eat, sleep, drink, dance and listen. Sadly, due to the vagaries of the British climate we can only do this in the summer months. My bonkers Festihotel concept offers that same experience all year round - and importantly attracts hordes of young cats to our city centre.
The goal would be to incorporate all the elements of the festival party experience listed above into a single building. Thus one would repurpose the capacious floors of one of these empty buildings as follows.
Roof - artificial beach? Outside area
3rd floor - dormitories and showers
2nd floor - art installations, chill space
1st floor - music stages and bar
Ground floor (open to non-ticketholders) - street food, other vendors, bar
Basement - DJ areas (i.e. club)
Punters would be able to eat, drink, sleep and party in the building. Security would need to be tight - especially between the ground floor and the others but it might work I think.
Of course, I'm just having fun here and it's pretty bonkers. It's a thought experiment; or creative brainstorming if you like. However it's also bold, unique and if anyone had the cojones to risk it, it would have the potential to put the centre of Sheffield on the map in a way unlike any other city!.
Thanks for reading.