Moore Street Substation

12th April 2016

Moore Street, Sheffield, S3 7WR

Tour led by - Moore Street Substation

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In April we were very lucky to be able to organise some tours around Moore Street Substation in Sheffield.  The tours were so popular, that the spaces were filled within 17 minutes of the email going out - a new record!

The tour was led by Malcolm Davies, the team leader of the National Grid Neepseed team and Daniel Bailey an electrical engineer on the team, with architectural support from Tom Rhys Jones and Catherine Ailsa West from Jefferson Sheard Architects.

The electricity substation was designed by Jefferson Sheard in 1968, and is a great example of Brutalist Architecture.  It was Grade II listed in 2013.  The building that exists was actually only phase 1 of the project, the full building was due to be L-shaped in form but the second phase was never built as the additional power wasn't required once the steel industry started to decline.

Our tour included the main floors including the empty top floor (currently being used for an exhibition) which was going to be used for bus bars to link to the other section and the city but has not been required, and the basement, where the power is distributed to the rest of the city.  The spaces inside are vast, whilst the machinery is surprisingly compact.  You can see a selection of our photographs taken during the tour below, including the interesting details of the concrete structure.

Due to the popularity, we hope to be able to do this tour again in the future.