Charlotte Gilbet

Case Study
17 Quay Street, Manchester

The renovation of a tired office building in the centre of Manchester into a modern mixed use development included us tinting both the brick and mortar of the entire building into a more contemporary dark anthracite colour.

Reimagining and Transforming a Facade.

Leahs Yard is nestled in the heart of Sheffield City Centre and is a real piece of Sheffields Stainless Steel heritage.

Constructed in the early part of the 19th century, originally it was a place for the manufacturer of shears and other hand tools, and later in the 1800's it was the home of Sheffield platers and knife manufacturers, and lately steel piercers and stampers, becoming known as the Cambridge Stamping Works.

In the 1900's the flexibility of the buildings that made up what by then had become known as Leah's Yard made them perfect for a variety of different metal industry trades and by 1905 the workshops around Leah's Yard were occupied by eighteen Little Masters whose trades included dram flask manufacturer, palette knife makers, and steel fork manufacture.

The decades the Grade II yard and its buildings have stood derelict until they were included in the Sheffield City Councils Heart of the City II project which has seen them renovated and reborn as a home to local small independent shops and businesses, opened in August 2024.