Sheffield Winter Garden is a large temperate glasshouse located in the city of

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. In N ...

. It is one of the largest temperate glasshouses to be built in the UK during the last hundred years, and the largest urban glasshouse anywhere in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. It is home to more than 2,000 plants from all around the world. It was officially opened by

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

on 22 May 2003. Part of the £120 million Heart of the City regeneration project that has created the

Peace Gardens The Peace Gardens are an inner city square in Sheffield, England. The Gardens themselves front onto Sheffield's gothic town hall, not to be confused with Sheffield City Hall (a concert venue), or the Sheffield Old Town Hall at Castle Market ...

and the £15 million

Millennium Galleries The Millennium Gallery is an art gallery and museum in the centre of Sheffield, England. Opened in April 2001 as part of Sheffield's Heart of the City project, it is located in the city centre close to the mainline station, the Central Library ...

, the Winter Garden was designed by

Pringle Richards Sharratt Pringle Richards Sharratt is an architectural firm that was formed in 1996 by John Pringle, Penny Richards and Ian Sharratt. Based in London, the practice has worked on public buildings, art galleries, museums, libraries, archives, university a ...

Architects and

Buro Happold Buro Happold (previously ''BuroHappold Engineering'') is a British professional services firm that provides engineering consultancy, design, planning, project management, and consulting services for buildings, infrastructure, and the environment ...

and is some long and high. The building has background frost protection to a minimum of 4 degrees Celsius and it is one of the largest

Glued Laminated Timber Glued laminated timber, commonly referred to as glulam, is a type of structural engineered wood product constituted by layers of dimensional lumber bonded together with durable, moisture-resistant structural adhesives so that all of the grain run ...

or "Glulam" buildings in the UK (Glulam is made by forming and gluing strips of timber into specific shapes). The wood used is Larch, a durable timber which will, over time, turn a light silvery grey colour. The larch, derived from sustainable forests, requires no preservatives or coatings. This reduces the use of solvents and also avoids the use of chemicals that could harm the plants. It has an intelligent Building Management System which controls fans and vents to make sure the plants are cooled in summer and kept warm in winter. The system will "learn" year by year. The bedding plants are changed five times a year, to give a seasonal change, and all the plants are watered by

hose A hose is a flexible hollow tube designed to carry fluids from one location to another. Hoses are also sometimes called ''pipes'' (the word ''pipe'' usually refers to a rigid tube, whereas a hose is usually a flexible one), or more generally '' ...

or by watering can, as it is the only way to ensure that all the plants get the correct amount of water.

Project team

*Clients: Sheffield City Council *Architects: Pringle Richards Sharratt Architects *Project Management: Sheffield City Council *Quantity Surveyors: Sheffield City Council *Structural & Services Engineers:

*Fire and Access Consultants:

FEDRA *Lighting Consultants: Bartenbach LichtLabor/ Lichttechnik Martin Klingler *Winter Garden Landscape Consultant: Weddle Landscape Design *Planning Supervisor: Sheffield City Council *Management Contractor: Interserve Project Services Ltd *Plant supply, planting and aftercare: Rentokil Tropical Plants Ltd

Partners

The Winter Garden was funded by the

Millennium Commission The Millennium Commission, a United Kingdom public body, was set up to celebrate the turn of the millennium. It used funding raised through the UK National Lottery to assist communities in marking the close of the second millennium and celebra ...

, Sheffield City Council and

English Partnerships English Partnerships (EP) was the national regeneration agency for England, performing a similar role on a national level to that fulfilled by regional development agencies on a regional level. On 1 December 2008 its powers passed to a successor ...

Awards won

RICS The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) is a global professional body for surveyors, founded in London in 1868. It works at a cross-governmental level, and aims to promote and enforce the highest international standards in the val ...

(Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) Pro Yorkshire Award for Design & Innovation * RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) Award ith the Millennium Galleries * European Federation of Interior Landscaping Groups – three gold awards * The

Variety Club of Great Britain Variety, the Children's Charity is a charitable organization founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1927. History On October 10, 1927, a group of eleven men involved in show business set up a social club which they named the "Variety Club". On ...

– Best Regeneration Award * Royal Fine Art Commission Jeu D’esprit'' Building of the Year' Award *

British Guild of Travel Writers The British Guild of Travel Writers Limited is a private company limited by guarantee formed in April 2015. This private company is the successor organisation to the erstwhile voluntary association known as the British Guild of Travel Writers. ...

– Commendation * Civic Trust

Green Flag Award The Green Flag Award is an international accreditation given to publicly accessible parks and open spaces, managed under licence from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, a UK Government department, by Keep Britain Tidy, ...

* Also instrumental in

's win in the

an entente florale award 2005

References

External links

Winter Garden pages on Sheffield City Council's website

Weddle Landscape Design – Landscape Architects and Horticulturalists for Sheffield Winter Garden
{{coord, 53.379849, N, 1.467997, W, scale:1000_region:GB, display=title W W Buildings and structures completed in 2003 W Greenhouses in the United Kingdom Gardens in South Yorkshire