Sheaf Square Sheffield
Sheffield Council spectacularly redeveloped Sheaf Square and Howard Street at a cost of £21 million. The main lighting features on the ‘gold route’, which links the railway station and the heart of the city, included a water cascade that uses colour-changing LEDs and the lighting of street furniture, trees and the station façade.
Sutton Vane Associates worked closely with Sheffield City Council to produce a comprehensive lighting scheme for all aspects of the square. Yellow, orange and red LED lamps with misters were successfully incorporated within the lower section of the Water Cascade to produce the effect of molten metal and to depict the city’s steelmaking heritage.
A physical mock-up was created in a Sheffield warehouse so that the interactions of the water and lights could be modelled exactly. Additional lighting was added to the Cutting Edge Sculpture depicting the city’s steelmaking heritage, the specially designed seats, the trees, the bollards and the decorative Water Rill, The practice had previously designed a unified lighting scheme for Sheffield’s City Hall and the surrounding area, Barker’s Pool.
The Sheaf Square scheme was so successful that Sheffield Council has since commissioned Sutton Vane Associates to develop the lighting strategy for the city’s Cultural Industries Quarter and Cathedral Quarter and to light areas such as the Weston Park Gates, Shoreham Street Development (including light art) and the Wicker Arch Bridge Gateway.
