Archaeological finds push scheme £8m over budget

"Significant" archaeological finds have pushed Sheffield Council's Castlegate scheme £8m over budget.

The £15m project to create a new public park and 500-capacity event space on the site of Sheffield's former castle, with the buried River Sheaf uncovered for the first time in more than 100 years, was due to be completed this year.

However, the scheme has encountered delays and rising costs. It comes after archaeological finds dating back to 1270 were uncovered during construction, while the "technical challenges" implicit in restoring the River Sheaf added both time and money.

The council says its latest forecast shows an £8.5m shortfall, and it now intends to bid for further funding.

A team from Wessex Archaeology are excavating the remains of the castle and have discovered a moat, 200-year-old slaughterhouses, drawbridge supports, civil war stakes and steel-making furnaces.

A 12.5m (41ft) well, potentially medieval and still containing water, has also been revealed during construction work.

Last year, the council said the project would need to undergo a redesign due to the archaeological finds, and further planning permission would have to be sought to ensure the remains were appropriately preserved in the long term.

A new report by the council says it is bidding for further funding: "The two main reasons for this are the castle archaeological discoveries and the River Sheaf de-culverting," it states.

"The significant unexpected archaeological finds have been a huge success for the project, but have necessitated several major redesigns to sensitively and appropriately preserve and interpret the heritage assets."

Officers say obtaining the required planning permission and heritage assessments mean the project has also taken longer than originally anticipated.

The report adds: "Technical challenges in uncovering the River Sheaf have been the other main reason for the programme extensions and cost increases.

"Despite carrying out a range of surveys and investigations upfront, the exact nature of the culvert structure was always uncertain, which meant that the de-culverting had to be approached in a way that needed to respond as work progressed.

"As with the archaeology, daylighting of the river in this location for the first time in over a century has been a major success, but its complexity has added time to the construction phase."

The report says everyone involved in the project is looking at ways to hasten the project's completion without compromising the long-term historical, ecological, social and economic benefits.

A council bid for additional funding from South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority is due to be submitted in March.

Castlegate dates back to the 11th century, with Sheffield Castle widely regarded as the birthplace of the city.

The council plans to put the architectural remains found at the site on public display for the first time in centuries.

Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North