First-Class Home for Arts in Sheffield

2nd April 2015

Sheffield Hallam University is creating a prestigious new home for the arts at the University and in the city.

The University will take over a long-term lease on the old Post Office building in Fitzalan Square in Sheffield city centre. It will be home to art and design courses, including fashion design, graphic design, fine art, product design, interior design, metalwork and jewellery, and more. The Grade II listed building will become an impressive new home for the Sheffield Institute of Art (SIA) by the end of 2015, after it is restored and refurbished by its owners. Fitzalan Square was home to the city's main market area until the 1930s. The building itself opened in 1910, operating as Sheffield's head post office until 1999, when the Post Office moved into more modern premises nearby. Since then the building has fallen into disrepair, but once sympathetically refurbished it will be a fitting home for SIA, which can trace its own history back to 1843. Plans for the interior will provide teaching rooms and practice studios, as well as an exciting exhibition and event space. Mark Swales, director of estates and facilities, said: "This new development is key to maintaining our excellent recruitment record, as well as creating an enhanced student experience and exciting research opportunities. "Enhancing our existing buildings, whilst also participating in new opportunities in the city, are both crucial to delivering our estates strategy, which aims to create a flexible, innovative and sustainable campus." Professor Sally Wade, director of the Sheffield Institute of Arts, said: "We are delighted by our move to the old Head Post Office in Fitzalan Square. This provides an opportunity to locate our excellent teaching and internationally-recognised research in art and design in the heart of Sheffield city centre." For more information on SIA, visit: www.shu.ac.uk/sia