Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park

Sector and market

Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park forms a key cluster for sports, health and wellbeing within the South Yorkshire Innovation District. It is a global centre for innovation in advanced manufacturing, green energy, health and wellbeing.

The foundational buildings form an important phase in the park’s development providing a total of 16,735 square meters of workspace.

This phase is aimed at nurturing and enhancing the existing cluster, providing exemplary buildings, places and spaces to support collaboration, innovation and research.

Location

The Park is anchored by the city’s leading research and educational facilities including Sheffield Hallam University’s Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre and National Centre of Excellence for Food Engineering, University Technical College at Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park and Oasis Academy Don Valley. It is alongside the city’s leading sporting facilities including English Institute of Sport, where some of Team Great Britain’s most awarded Olympians have trained.

The Park clusters public-private sector organisations with elite athletes and innovators from academia, to pioneer world-leading improvements in health, sport and wellbeing. This unique ecosystem is designed to inspire, nurture and empower the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Connectivity

Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park is conveniently located for organisations and visitors in the UK and further afield, occupying a prominent and well-connected location 2 miles from the city centre, one mile from Junction 34 of the M1 motorway, and within 90-minutes of 5 International airports.

The Park is easily accessible for pedestrians and well-served via multimodal transport infrastructure, including; tram, bus, rail, cycle, car and plane.

Local talent and skills

Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park supports an existing cluster of high-value jobs within sports, education and leisure sectors.

Key talent pools include:

• Sheffield Hallam University Campus
• Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust’s establishment of a new National Centre for Child Health Technology
• Canon Medical Park Community Arena, a new cohort of skilled research and development talent which will be located at the park

The mix of jobs will be diversified as the scheme matures and new workspace is developed, attracting start-ups, scale-ups, established SMEs, global organisations and governing bodies.

Research and expertise

Spearheaded by Legacy Park Ltd, a unique community of 7 key public sector partners, the Park hosts a range of research teams and partnerships dedicated to improving people’s health and wellbeing:

• Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre
• National Centre for Sport Exercise and Medicine
• Research and Innovation for Post-COVID-19 Rehabilitation
• The AWRC Wellbeing Accelerator
• National Centre of Excellence for Food Engineering
• Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, National Centre for Child Health Technology
• Medical Diagnostic Centre at Canon Medical Arena

Further details

The 80-acre ‘Zone 1’ area of Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park is owned by Sheffield City Council. The developer (Scarborough Group) has an existing development agreement with the Council that enables it to acquire vacant land within this area on a phased basis. This includes the ‘Foundational Buildings’ to which the initial £65 million investment proposition relates (Legacy Stadium (2,465 square meters), Move-On Building (5,250 square meters), Innovation Centre (9,020 square meters) and Active Travel Hub).

Along with the wider development zone, this totals a net developable area of 20-acres with the potential for 93,000 square meters (1 million square feet) of development within the initial masterplan.

The opportunity therefore exists for additional investment over the longer term to develop the remainder of this land for life sciences use, and to acquire other adjacent brownfield property for future expansion, to accommodate further life sciences buildings and supporting uses such as new homes and amenities.

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) highlights

Key sustainability and net zero carbon features within the next phases of development will include:

• all electric, net zero carbon ‘ready’ buildings
• low embodied carbon design
• PV array at roof level
• heating and cooling provided by air source heat pumps
• BREEAM ‘Excellent’ and EPC A
• 10% biodiversity net gain across the built form of the masterplan
• pedestrian first approach to the masterplan creating a hierarchy that supports and promotes active travel
• responding to climate change adaption through ‘vegetated’ sustainable drainage systems (SuDS)

Beyond the buildings, the park seeks to enhance social value through its stakeholders. This involves working closely with community groups, charities, businesses and other organisations to provide space for the local community to lead healthier, more active lifestyles.

Promoters and partnerships

Scarborough Group is one of the UK’s most active privately-owned regeneration and property investment specialists, with an extensive track-record across the Northern Powerhouse cities of Sheffield, Leeds and Manchester.

Working in partnership with Sheffield City Council, Scarborough Group is the preferred developer to bring forward future phases of development at the Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park.

Scarborough Group’s role is broader than delivering the built environment. The company is actively engaged with partners and stakeholders in developing the concepts and curating the operation of the park, through a unique partnership with ecosystem managers Propel Teams.

Other key stakeholders include:

• Legacy Park Limited (Public sector and institutional promoter)
• Sheffield City Council (local authority and major landowner in the Park)
• South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA)

Local and national government support

The ethos of the park aligns with the UK government’s innovation strategy and ambitions to position the UK as a world-leader in science, research and innovation, with a specific focus on health, sports and wellbeing.

The park has already attracted funding from the Levelling-up fund, with sums secured towards: * the development of the National Centre for Child Health Technology * the site remediation/enabling works for the Innovation Centre plot * creation of a Cycle Hub