'˜Grey to green' change gets finishing touches

The first stage of a project to brighten up main roads in Sheffield city centre with wildflowers, grasses, trees and art is close to completion.

The city council’s £3.6m Grey to Green scheme aims to make 1.2km of roads from West Bar to Castlegate more attractive to workers, developers, pedestrians and cyclists.

So far around half of the overall work has been finished.

As well as perennial meadows, a new drainage system, street furniture and better-quality paving, five four-metre-high ‘modern totem poles’ have been put up.

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Made from stone and metal, each artwork reflects an aspect of the area’s history, such as rivers and brewing.

Funding is still being sought to revamp an empty plot at the bottom of Snig Hill to form an ‘eco-park’ called Love Square.

The Sheffield University project lost out on lottery funding, but the land is being tidied in the hope the ambition can be realised soon.

Wildflower experts from the university have also been involved in the wider Grey to Green scheme, which has been paid for with money from the Government and Europe.

The next phase - focusing on Castlegate - will start once funding is secured.