Charles Street Car Park : RIBA Regional Award winner 2009

15 Dec 2008
Eye-catching Allies and Morrison carpark regenerates Sheffield city centre

A new £16m multi-story car park, designed by Allies and Morrison Architects for CTP St James Limited, has opened in the heart of Sheffield providing 520 much-needed parking spaces. The building, which is an important part of Allies and Morrison's masterplan for the regeneration of St Paul's Place, has already caught the attention of the city with its visually striking cladding system.


St Paul's Place Photos : Dennis Gilbert

The distinctive cladding system is made of a series of aluminium panels mounted in four different orientations resulting in a pattern which creates a varying texture of light and shadow. The internal face of the panels is coloured green to reflect the foliage within St Paul's Place; the colour is subtly revealed in daylight and is more evident at night when internal lighting gives the impression of sunlight filtering through the leaves.

"The design solution has been to produce an elegant enclosure to what is essentially a large public car park," says Robert Maxwell, Partner of Allies and Morrison. "The square cladding panels successfully hide the form of the otherwise overbearing concrete decks and ramps and produce a consistent texture to the surface when rotated. When lit from within they introduce an abstract quality to the building."

David Topham of CTP St James commented: "We are delighted with the progress being made in the commercial elements of the Heart of the City and the opening of the car park building marked a significant milestone in the overall development programme. The building provides a high-quality secure parking facility to the city centre in time for Christmas 2008."

The St Paul's Place development, of which the car park forms part, is a £130m high-quality mixed-use scheme comprising a hotel, office space, restaurants and landscaped squares incorporating public artwork. In addition to the overall masterplan and the car park, Allies and Morrison is also responsible for the design of the first office building which competed in 2007, the second office building which is due for completion in 2009 and major improvements to the public realm to St Paul's Place.

St Paul's Place Sheffield Car Park - Professional Team:

Client CTP St James Limited
Architect Allies and Morrison
Contractor J F Finnegan
Project manager Gardiner & Theobold LLP
Quantity Surveyor Tweeds
Structural & Civil Engineers Capita Symonds
Mechanical & Electrical Engineers Ernest Griffiths and Son
Fire Engineers Arup Fire
Highway Engineers Arup Highways

St Paul's Place Sheffield images / information received 151208



Sheffield Architects

Allies and Morrison
Allies and Morrison is one of the country's leading architectural and masterplanning practices. Operating from studios in Southwark, designed by the practice for its own use, Allies and Morrison employs a total of 270 staff led by ten partners, including Graham Morrison and Bob Allies, and eight directors. The current portfolio covers a range of project types including healthcare, offices, student housing, mixed-use, residential, education and arts buildings throughout the UK and abroad.

Allies and Morrison

CTP St James
CTP St James is a joint venture between two leading northern developers, CTP of Manchester and St James Securities of Leeds. They have also been responsible for award-winning developments at the Round Foundry in Leeds and the waterfront in Wakefield.



Sheffield research building

Leeds Architecture

Yorkshire Buildings

Sheffield Buildings

University of Sheffield Research building

Sheffield office building

Sheffield Hallam University



World Architecture : e-architect - a guide to key buildings across the globe

English Architecture

Comments / photos for the St Paul's Place Sheffield Car Park Building page welcome: info@e-architect.co.uk

Sheffield Car Park - page : adrian welch / isabelle lomholt