Save Portland Works!

Sheffield’s historic Portland Works is threatened with closure and conversion into flats. Please help us to persuade Sheffield City Council to reject this planning application.

This atmospheric metal trades building, a grade II* listed building, currently houses a thriving collection of profitable and innovative local businesses. It is a place where the boundaries between art, industry, and technology break down, allowing Sheffield’s manufacturing past to inspire its creative future. Local artists rub shoulders with tool makers, heritage craftspeople ply their trade next to businesses researching and developing new patents, and the sound of local bands rehearsing mingles with the rasp of grinding wheels.

The proposal to convert Portland works into flats threatens a whole traditional way of life. Conserving this place means more than preserving its beautiful grade II* listed architectural fabric, which witnessed the manufacture of the first stainless steel cutlery. It means defending jobs, safeguarding traditional specialist skills so that they can be passed on to new generations, and preserving continuity with Sheffield’s proud tradition of expert ‘little mesters’ who work in an enterprising, sustainable, and fundamentally local way.

There is a viable and exciting alternative to flats on this site, an option that seeks to conserve both the building’s fabric and its use. The Portland Works campaign, staffed by volunteers, aims to purchase the works building with funds raised through a community share issue. Our aim is to repair its fabric and to develop it as both a business cluster and a community space.

However, for this to be possible, Sheffield City Council must reject the current planning application to convert the building into flats. This petition urges them to do so, in the name of Sheffield’s historic past, its characterful present, and its sustainable future.