Work on new events venue halted as 'cost doubles'

An artist's impression of Event Central

A cultural hub and events venue project has been paused after "incorrect estimates" meant that building costs doubled.

Work had been due to start this summer on Event Central in Sheffield, the conversion of a building on Fargate in the city centre.

The scheme has already been delayed several times and work has been halted once again after the city council's finance committee heard the cost had soared from £7.7m to an "astronomical" £14.4m.

Council officers admitted they had made "incorrect estimates and assumptions" when they first priced up the project.

An emergency meeting to discuss the next steps will be held by the council on 28 August.

Councillor Martin Smith told the committee: "Why has it gone up by such an astronomic amount? Does this scheme still stack up?

"We're talking about event space for 200-300 people and the council has already constructed one in Bethel Chapel as part of the Heart of the City scheme, and it hasn't been able to let that.

"This is a huge increase in the amount of public money that's going into it and I'm looking for confidence that this still a wise use of public money."

The building on Fargate where Event Central is due to open

Sheffield City Council originally received £15.8m of Levelling Up funding to transform the whole of Fargate, of which Event Central was one part. Creative Arts Development Space has been lined up as the operator.

An unnamed officer at the council meeting said: "The original outline business case was clearly an incorrect assessment to do the work to that building.

"Some assumptions were made about temporary works that would be required; the nature of the building and its structural integrity, the relationship with adjacent land and all kinds of things weren't factored in by the design team at that point.

"The main entertainment space was going to be in the basement and there were some assumptions made about how easy it would be to convert that basement space into an entertainment venue and those proved to be wrong assumptions.

"Similarly, there were things around fire protection measures that weren't allowed for at that time and lots of small things that sort of built up to give that incorrect estimate.

"There were things around how long it would take. Effectively, that was an incorrect assessment of what that project would cost so the tenders we've received since then had a more realistic reflection of what it would cost."

How the inside of Event Central will look

Officers warned delaying the scheme would mean costs would rise even further but the cross-party committee of councillors postponed their decision.

Committee chair Zahira Naz said: "We have made our views very clear about projects coming to us with a massive overspend and members feel we just don't have enough information to be able to make a decision.

"I don't want to be a committee where we just rubber stamp projects, it's really important that we get this right."

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