On Monday 26 March we announced the purchase of the Works - but we still need to raise funds!
The sale should complete in the next few weeks.
But we're not there
yet! Buying the building is the start - there is
much urgent work to be done, weatherproofing and Health and Safety
work, and we need at least £50,000 over the purchase price
and costs just to begin. PLEASE SUPPORT US!
THE SHARE OFFER IS STILL OPEN.
The share offer will continue to June, as planned, so it's not at
all too late to join in. More capital means less borrowing (loans
are expensive!) and more renovation work done quickly.
Thanks are especially due to the 350+ individuals who have put in upwards of £100 each, bringing in over £185,000, and the Architectural Heritage Fund and South Yorkshire Key Fund, our lenders. And not least, the 50+ individuals who have donated between £5 and £1000 over the last year, again, thank you.
And finally - thanks to all the well wishers who emailed in, we really appreciate it! Here's a selection:
Excellent news you and the Steering Group should rightly feel very proud.
This is absolutely fantastic
news, I'm so excited for the future of Portland.
Congrats to you and your
awesome colleagues.
Fantastic news! Well done to you and all the working group for all your hard work and persistence.
Huzzar!!
This is AWSOME NEWS
soooooooo pleased and excited - well
done
You are all BRILLIANT!!
Congratulations, good job well done.
Many thanks for all your hard
work.
This is absolutely fantastic news, I'm so excited for the future of Portland.
Congrats to you and your awesome colleagues.
Congratulations Derek and team. Your hard work is paying off. Best wishes
Congratulations, that's great news. Well done to the team, they've all worked really hard to make this happen and it's a truly inspiring that things are moving in the right direction!
...my congratulations to the great work you've been doing in rescuing the works and its traditions for beneficial future use. Well done!
I just wanted to say how
pleased I am that you will be able to buy Portland Works.
The best of luck to all of you.
.......and many more like it
KEEP SUPPORTING US!
Derek Morton
Chair, Portland Works Campaign
updated 16 April 2012
See Share offer page, Donate page
More about us and our vision for the Works
Visit us on 6 May (see Events)
Or email us on
Getting better and getting there! - we've over £185,000 in share sales, thanks to a big lift in share applications and a rush of donations (over £1500 donated) since the TV coverage in February.
We now have 350 shareholders. Many have put in around £100 but the average is, amazingly, over £500. We still need another £50,000 to complete the purchase process and start the refurb...
We are a Community Benefit Society run and financed by volunteers like yourselves. If you'd like to help us, get in touch.
Thank you and please keep it coming in!
Derek Morton
Chair, Portland Works Campaign
updated 15 April 2012
The share issue has been extended to JUNE 2012. We've reached almost £150,000 in share sales from 200+ investors in six months. Not enough yet, but our target is achievable WITH YOUR HELP. We're now in a very constructive negotiation with the owners, and the cash is essential to close the deal.
We need £250,000 in share
sales and donations - we have 5 months - the threat remains
This is a unique cooperative venture to buy, restore and operate Portland Works as a social enterprise, supporting traditional and creative enterprises, educational work and Sheffield's heritage. The project is run entirely by volunteers and supported by people like yourself - almost all private individuals who want to see the works survive under community ownership.
If we don't succeed, the Works will be closed down and redeveloped
Will you help us get to our target? The share issue has been extended to JUNE 2012 - get in touch via info@portlandworks.co.uk
Derek Morton
Chair, Portland Works Committee
31 January 2012
Quicksand Films have made 'This is Portland Works' about the Works and tenants
by Matt Risby and Elliot Parker
the link takes you to the Vimeo website to view the film
Percussion performance - PICTURES and Video clip featuring massed performers and a spring hammer - unique event, 7 - 7.45 at the Works, put on by 'In the Nursery' as part of the 'Sensoria' festival.
More here, big thanks to Nigel of "In the Nursery" for organising this
Much to our pleasant surprise - see 21 April Sheffield Telegraph - the Planning Officers are recommending REFUSAL at the 3 May Council Meeting. The application has since been WITHDRAWN altogether! This is great news and you have all played a big part in the refusal through your letters and emails.
THANKS to all you people who signed the petition, wrote letters, sent emails and generally made a nuisance of yourselves, it's a great big shove forward for the camapign. NOW we need to get on and raise all that money and buy the Works - you can help there too - see SUPPORT US
Derek Morton 27 April
updated 29 April -
QUOTE from letter from Planning department
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Thank you for your letter making comments on the above proposal.
I am writing to inform you that the applicant has withdrawn the application.
Yours faithfully
<\p>Principal Planning Officer
Development Management Section"
On 6 March and 30 January ten workshops and studios opened up to a full house of over 300 visitors who saw the wealth of skills, talent and creativity that is Portland Works. See photos ...
Some comments -
"Both myself and my wife were knocked out by the wonders of Portland Works both the architecture and the differing array of crafts / working people you have under one roof" John Scholey
"We really enjoyed our tour of the works yesterday - please
pass on our
thanks to the organisers - very impressive. It was good to see
you again and I
was totally thrilled by being able to hold the piece of mammoth
ivory !
I was shocked that the state of the building in some parts is
worse than I
imagined and I hope you get the project of reconstruction off
the ground.
there are so many people in there doing a fabulous job"
Dr Joan Unwin
"Great day today congratulations to all the team"
Robin Wood - Heritage Crafts Association
"We had a wonderful time on the tour today...thanks again to
you and all the workers and volunteers in the place who gave their
time today. Inspiring."
Sally Goldsmith
Stephen Cater, of the University of Sheffield, shared the following glowing endorsement of Portland Works with us:
"At a time when Yorkshire Forward and Sheffield City Council are justifiably proud of the efforts they have made to establish a high technology metalworking cluster on the Advanced Manufacturing Park [AMP] at Orgreave, I am dismayed to find that they may be willing to extinguish an existing, and equally important centre of excellence in metalworking at Portland Works.
I am currently undertaking a PhD at the University of Sheffield, studying the historical role of steel and developing new techniques for processing it. Nowhere else, not even at the university or the AMP, can I find the necessary skills required to help me in my work. I can only find them at Portland Works. I can take metal ingots there, have them indelibly engraved with reference numbers, have the same ingots worked down to strips, and then have those strips made into tools and cutting edges all under the same roof.
I am not the first to use their services: almost a hundred years ago Harry Brearley took his first stainless steel ingots there to have test cutlery manufactured. Does Sheffield really want to throw away such a heritage?"
Stephen Cater, University of Sheffield, Department of Materials Science and Engineering
In June, after a day's workshop of tenants and interested parties, hosted by Sheffield University Architecture Department, the Portland Works Steering Group decided to offer to purchase the Works in agreement with the landlord.
An ownership organisation has since been established, as an Industrial Provident Society, to buy, run and renovate the Works.
Look out for more news - we will be seeking loans and donations soon - if you think you can help, go to 'Support Us' or get in touch via info@portlandworks.co.uk
This obviously affects the planning application - but provisionally we are still opposing this. You can still see the planning application on the Sheffield Council site where there are proposals for over 60 tiny bedsit flats - and over a hundred written objections.