Sheffield property developers Citu have begun work on a new set of sustainable living spaces in the heart of Kelham Island.
‘Kelham Central’, as the project has been named, will consist of 113 houses. Living spaces will be a mixture of houses and apartments, all with open public gardens. The new development will also bring new bar, restaurant and office spaces to the area.
The project is set to continue the idea of low-carbon living seen in the neighbouring 200-house property development ‘Little Kelham’ by Alma Street.
To keep in line with the sustainable vision, Citu’s are using a timber framed housing system to offer residents open-plan spaces to create their long term homes in. The properties will be manufactured at their Yorkshire-based factory Citu Works.
Kelham Central will only have 38 car parking spaces – 0.4 spaces per resident. This follows the concept of the “15-minute city” being worked on in Sheffield: central city living which minimises car usage and encourages the use of the city’s public transport network.
All the homes will be heated by carbon neutral renewable energy, with a fabric-first design approach and smart technology to monitor the development’s sustainability performance and air quality.
Citu was established in 2004 by Chris Thompson, who now leads the business with partner Jonathan Wilson. The company aims to tackle climate change through designing innovative property developments with added health and wellbeing benefits, rooflights for flat roofs, alongside tackling the housing shortage issue.
Jonathan Wilson, Development Director at Citu, said: “We’re delighted to be able to further invest in this iconic part of the city to introduce Sheffield to our Yorkshire-manufactured Citu Homes that have been so popular and successful in our Leeds development, the Climate Innovation District.”
“We have already seen from the success of Little Kelham that people want to lead a more sustainable lifestyle and Kelham Island has so many features that people find attractive: access to nature with the River Don through; a relaxed café, bar and restaurant culture and unmatched industrial heritage.”
Access to the outdoors is a major feature of the new property development and the Kelham Gardens will be the largest public green space in Kelham to date. Intertwined with the bold contemporary architecture, there will be a combination of private courtyards, roof terraces and semi-private residential gardens and courtyards for food-growing, playing nda relaxing.
There will be mixture of one, two, three and four bed properties including ‘Mester’ houses. These homes will populate ‘Little Mester Street’, a nickname given to the properties in recognition of Sheffield’s former cutlers. Another set of properties available will be ‘The Garden Apartments’, which will be same height as the houses, creating an attractive Kelham skyline with plenty of open spaces and opportunity for the future community.
Jonathan continued: “When we started out, we were constantly banging the drum about the benefits and requirement for us all to live more sustainably. Now, as cities like Sheffield have declared a climate emergency and we start to emerge from the pandemic, the demand for dramatically reduced carbon homes and healthier places, such as Little Kelham, is high and growing all the time. The time is now right to bring Kelham Central to life, as issues of well-being and the environment are much more acknowledged and understood.”
The first phase of garden apartments are to be launched this month, with planned completion of the whole project to be 2023.
For more information on Little Kelham, visit www.littlekelham.co.uk
