Templeborough Melting Shop closed in 1993; its production of steel could no longer compete with those employing highly automated techniques. The works escaped the ignominious razing suffered by other sites thanks to the council's plans to create a steel museum.
The end result was the £46 million Magna Centre, a hi-tech science park with a strong emphasis on gadgets and fun. The conversion won the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2001.
What is interesting about the approach taken by the architects is their desire to keep the essential building as it was when it employed 10,000 men. The scorch marks, rusted pinholes and cauldrons remain in the blackened expanse of Templeborough. Visitors enter the centre the same way as workers did, via a 30m long tunnel running below the building.
A new walkway was constructed for visitors to access the various areas of Magna; this enabled the floor of the shed to remain in its raw state. Disused hoppers and lumps of metal still lie on the ground below.
Lighting in the building pays particular attention to recreating the hot and dirty atmosphere of the steel works. Drama is created by the dark expanses, slashed intermittently by columns of red light and the roar of the 20ft pillar of fire spewing forth from one of the arc furnaces at the shed's far end.
John Heaps recalls a time when the steel valley running from Templeborough into Sheffield was dotted with industrial sites, "At 4 or 5 in the afternoon, it was like ants pouring out of an anthill". Now the one remaining steel works sits awkwardly among the call centres and commercial centres. The survival of Templeborough, albeit in an altered state, is vital to retaining a sense of the area's heritage.
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