City council set to bill owner of derelict former tool factory in trendy Kelham Island.

The owner of a listed former tool factory in Sheffield’s trendiest neighbourhood is about to be invoiced for repairs after it went into disrepair.

Sheffield City Council dispatched contractors to Cornish Works, located on Cornish Street in Kelham Island, after ‘urgent’ preservation requests were ignored.

Cornish Works is a cluster of listed buildings, comprising crucible furnaces and a home, built around 1850 and expanded in the late nineteenth century. For long years, it housed the world-renowned tool manufacturer George Barnsley & Sons.

The site has been abandoned since the corporation left in 2003. Today, Garry Hastings and Josie Regis Hastings own it through their company Freddy and Barney Ltd.

In July of last year, Sheffield City Council issued an Urgent Works Notice outlining the steps needed to save 19 properties. It further stated that if they were not completed by August 2024, the authority would perform the work itself and bill the owner.

The work includes making the buildings wind and weather resistant, as well as safe from collapse. Workers arrived at the site earlier this month, and scaffolding was constructed at various locations.

A Sheffield City Council representative stated, “Enforcement action around the Cornish Works building is ongoing, and it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.” Mr. and Ms. Hastings were asked for comment.

Cornish Works is one of the final heritage buildings to be transformed into flats on beautiful Kelham Island.

It is also near Neepsend, where Sheffield City Council and Homes England plan to develop hundreds more homes.

The authorities is taking enforcement action against three burnt-out and dilapidated buildings on neighbouring Penistone Road and Dixon Street, which are owned by a different corporation.

Read more on Straightwinfortoday.com