The University of Sheffield can celebrate the opening of their new Social Science building ‘The Wave’ after four years of construction.
The building on Northumberland Road, which was first discussed in 2013, faced turbulence during the early construction, with a pile settlement issue meaning they had to start over.
Finally completed and opened this week, it consolidates seven departments and boasts five lecture theatres, the largest of which holds 400 people with a design that encourages collaborative working.
Laura Armitage, 39, the Faculty Estates and Infrastructure Manager, said: “It was important because we’ve got now that collaboration between faculties that we really wanted.”
She called the building a ‘social science campus with architectural flair’.
“We’ve improved the student experience by providing big lecture theatres, and we’ve also got 500 working spaces in The Wave”, she added.
The building itself cost around £70m, with the total investment coming to almost £99.7m.
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It’s open to members of the public as well as students, and has quickly caught attention.
Margaret Lamb, 71, a retired chef from Sheffield said: “We needed something like this in the city. We’ve been under-funded since the ‘80s and things like this slowly drag the city up.
“I couldn’t tell you what it’s being used for but I’m a huge advocate for that lovely café.”
Yusuf Raasch, 26, a software engineer from Sheffield, said: “I’m in love with it already to be honest, it’s a comfortable setting for me to do my work and sit to do online meetings.”
The design for the building achieved ‘outstanding’ on the BREEAM assessment, a method for measuring the environmental sustainability of buildings.
It’s made to be carbon net-zero, using electricity to do all its heating and cooling.
Richard Parr, 54, Senior Project manager, said: “The building is open and accessible for everyone to utilise. It’s a major building and it’s centrally located within the city.”
“I think it’s a real feature for the city. It’s something to celebrate,” added Ms Armitage.
Despite starting in spring 2019, the construction was only completed in December 2022.
The Wave has four stories and the largest among the faculties integrated into the building is the department of Journalism Studies, which will be moving from 9 Mappin Street over the summer period.
Mr Parr explained that the legacy equipment will be transferred across to The Wave, but will be supplemented by new technology as well.