Sheffield Heart of the City

The Heart of the City is the most central of Sheffield's “quarters”. It comprises the Town Hall, opened in 1897, and the immediate surroundings. The area has seen many stages of regeneration over the years. For a long time, it contained a large brewery and various industrial works. By 1977, the brutalist extension of the Town Hall was built which became known as the Egg Box Building due to is shape. This and the adjoining car park were demolished in 2002 as part of the Heart of the City project. A number of new office buildings and a multi-storey car park were built around Norfolk Street. At the side of the Town Hall, there was a new hotel (the Mercure), the Winter Gardens (an enormous greenhouse containing 2,000 plants from around the world), and the Millennium Gallery.