New Sheffield Event Central venue budget increasing by £8m to £14.4m
The new venue will be home to a 200-person live event space, café/bar area on the ground floor with the four upper floors being used as co-working space
The budget for the Event Central venue on Fargate in Sheffield city centre is increasing by almost £8m to £14.4m.
Sheffield City Council’s finance and performance policy committee will be asked on Monday (August 18) to approve an increase in budget of £7,791,770 to a total of £14,408,758 to allow the delivery of Event Central, which has taken over former shops on 20-26 Fargate.
The council this week announced: “Once complete, the new venue will be home to a 200-person live event space, café/bar area on the ground floor with the four upper floors being used as co-working space along with meeting rooms.
“It is expected the venue will be able to host a wide-ranging programme of community events, showcases, exhibitions, workshops and talks when work is complete.”
A report to the committee says that an outline business case in March 2022 for government Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities funding estimated the cost at £6.9m. However, this proved undeliverable, so the council received additional Gainshare funding from the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA).
The report says the committee on Monday is being asked to formally increase the budget to enable the contract to be let and the scheme delivered.
Works proposed to turn the basement into a music venue have been replaced by a ground floor events space.
Another change involves dropping planned storage space for outdoor performances and events on Fargate. This is not needed because
the equipment is generally hired.
The revised funding scheme involves £6,546,973 from the government
Future High Streets Fund, £766,158 from the council Corporate Investment Fund, £879,564 from the Sheffield City Region Get Building Fund and £6,216,063 of SYMCA Gainshare money, totalling £14,408,758.