Events venue will go ahead despite budget doubling

An artist's impression of Event Central

A new events venue in Sheffield will go ahead despite the original construction budget doubling.

Work on Event Central on Fargate was paused after concerns were raised about the rising costs of the project, which is funded with Levelling Up grants.

Sheffield City Council's finance committee halted the scheme after hearing the bill for converting the building had increased from £7.7m to £14.4m, and asked for further information.

The South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) has now stepped in to help bridge the funding gap.

At an emergency meeting on Thursday, councillors agreed to the scheme continuing after seeing documents from officers, which were not made available to the public.

A separate report by SYMCA referred to Event Central and said it planned to approve £6.21m "to deliver a live performance venue in Sheffield city centre".

Councillor Douglas Johnson told the meeting: "Was this committee seriously going to say, actually, no, we'll turn down this extra £6.2m from SYMCA and be left with an empty building in the middle of Fargate?"

An old building on Fargate is being transformed into Event Central

Councillor Glynis Chapman questioned how the scheme had gone over budget.

She said: "Who gave permission to just continue with this scheme, with this enormous overspend, without coming to the finance committee and asking? It just seems to have gone on and on for years.

"The price has been going up and nobody said, is this OK? And no matter where the money is coming from, it's still incumbent on Sheffield Council to scrutinise how other people's money is spent. We need to know that it's being spent wisely."

Council officer Adam Midgley said changes in the national economy, the pandemic, war in Ukraine and inflation had all added to the cost.

He said: "We have been keeping funders up to date and briefing various groups around the council. The finance committee might not be completely aware of all those briefings, but we have been through a process where those cost increases have been assessed as value for money and they've been agreed by the funders.

"They still represent excellent value for money so whilst the costs have increased, they haven't increased to a point where we think it's not value for money."

At a previous meeting, council officers admitted they had made "incorrect estimates and assumptions" when they first priced up the scheme.

It has already been delayed several times but council officer Alan Seasman said Event Central was important.

He said: "Work has confirmed the demand and need for a centrally-located live performance venue with capacity of 200 people, but Event Central is more than just a performance space.

"It will bring forward city centre space for artists, creative visual arts, digital arts, music and theatre production, provide performance and exhibition space that will help to boost the visitor economy and provide co-working and collaboration space."

Sheffield City Council originally received £15m of Levelling Up money to transform the whole of Fargate, of which Event Central was one part. Creative Arts Development Space has been lined up as the operator.

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