Students inject new life into Sheffield bus station

31st October 2022

Hundreds of Sheffield Hallam students are taking over Sheffield’s bus station to inject new life into the city transport hub over the next 12 months.

Working with South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) and Travel South Yorkshire (TSY), up to 400 foundation, undergraduate and post-graduate students from Hallam will suggest improvements and interventions that will make the interchange a more attractive gateway to the city.  

An event to launch the programme saw a theatre troupe perform excerpts of Shakespeare’s Pericles at the end of Platform A, where students’ works from previous years were also exhibited.

Pam Bowman, project lead from Sheffield Hallam, said: “This project allows our students to share their work and engage with the city and community in a meaningful way. We thrive on these opportunities which give us the chance to work collaboratively both across the city and across disciplines to creatively embrace the challenges and limitations. 

“The bus station project gives our students a chance to apply their knowledge from a wide range of disciplines and work with the community to create a vibrant and welcoming space and propose developments for the future.” 

As a leading civic university, Sheffield Hallam is committed to working in the region to revitalise the city centre for the local community and address the challenges in our region. 

SYMCA’s Director of Infrastructure and Place, John Dowie, said: “The launch event was a great way to see the potential of this programme. 

“The bus station is one of the first impressions many people get of the area when they are arriving in Sheffield, but it’s become a bit unloved and can become a much more welcoming space, a proper gateway to the city, offering more than just access to public transport. Today the station become an art gallery and a theatre, showing us what’s possible in the future from such a dynamic space.” 

Apart from the live performance, the launch event also included an exhibition of pictures from previous students’ fashion shows, some architecture 3-D models and posters created by graphic design students, showing what’s possible to achieve.   

Keshini Mistry, interior architecture and design student at Hallam, said: “This bus station project gives us as students the opportunity to get involved within our city through art and design. It is amazing to be working on a live project where we can share our creative minds in what we love to do. This project has been very enjoyable so far and I can’t wait to see the range of concepts me and my fellow students produce.” 

Students from 14 different courses – including Architecture, Design and Illustration – are taking part in this creative challenge, studying the interchange, talking to its users and coming up with ideas to improve the environment. 

Ellie Richards, architecture student, said: “I'm enjoying working on the Interchange project as it’s allowing me to feel a genuine connection to Sheffield and all the things that make it great. 

“I’m able to take a step back and analyse about what is needed here for individuals, the environment and the community that I live in. I love that the ideas we generate and the observations we make may contribute to the future look and feel of our city centre and ultimately make it better for those who live here.” 

Projects should start to be implemented around January.