JR over ex-hospital site to test weight to be given to loss of listed buildings

Two conservation charities have launched joint judicial review proceedings over a council’s decision to approve the demolition of a Grade II listed hospital.

The case is expected to set a precedent on how rigorously councils have to weigh the loss of listed buildings under new planning guidelines.

Sheffield University wants to build a new engineering block on the site of the Edwardian Jessop Hospital. It claims a range of public benefits for the plan, including the jobs that would be created during construction.

The challenge to Sheffield City Council’s decision to approve demolition has been brought by the Victorian Society and SAVE Britain's Heritage. Its lawyers are Susan Ring of Richard Buxton Environmental Law and Richard Harwood QC of 39 Essex Street.

The claimants argue that the wrong tests were applied when balancing damage to a heritage asset against public benefits. They insist that the existing building is capable of re-use.

SAVE Director Clem Cecil said: "It is essential that this perception that old buildings are a brake on progress should be dropped. Listed buildings are a finite resource that cannot be replaced – this is a valued historic building in one of the country's major cities – something that should be celebrated and taken advantage of rather than destroyed."

Valerie Bayliss, Chair of the South Yorkshire Group of the Victorian Society, said "The Victorian Society was one of the National Amenity Societies who the council first had to consult and we were vehemently opposed to the plans.

“Legal action like this is unusual and such a joining of forces between conservation groups like this more-so. This is an indication of just how seriously national organisations are taking this case, fearing the precedent that it could create for other listed buildings."

The Jessop Hospital, commissioned by steelmaker Thomas Jessop, was designed by John Dodsley Webster in 1878 and extended in 1902.