Rose Garden Café Restoration & Refurbishment

Who are we?

The Rose Garden Café Partnership is made up of representatives from the Friends of Graves Park, Save the Rose Garden Café Campaign, Sheffield City Council and Chris Hallam is our independent chair.

Why is there a Rose Garden Café Partnership?

Following a 15-month campaign by local people to save the Rose Garden Café from demolition after it was closed in 2022 on safety grounds, the council agreed to a plan to restore and refurbish the café and to set up a partnership with the community to take this forward. The role of the Rose Garden Café Partnership is to create an action plan, with timescales and funding sources to develop the strategy for the restoration of the café.

Our vision statement

The Rose Garden Café Partnership’s vision for the Rose Garden café is....

To understand the current structural state of the building so that it can be fully restored as quickly as is feasible with improvements and refurbishments, for it to be operating as a cafe to serve the community as a sustainable building for future generations.

We want to do this by…

Creating a strategy which considers cost effectiveness, quality, accessibility, environmental impact and the future, so that we can obtain funding to achieve our vision.

What has happened so far?

Chris Hallam appointed as our independent chair

Chris has an impressive track record in strategic leadership and management with community-based regeneration schemes and is currently the part-time Chief Executive of the High Green Development Trust, Chair of Derbyshire Community Transport and a voluntary non-executive director of the Elveston Castle Trust in Derbyshire, an independent charity working on the regeneration of a major Derbyshire visitor attraction. His role will be to continue building the trust between partners and to ensure that everyone is working together effectively and urgently towards the agreed strategic goals.

Appointment of structural engineer, Alan Wood & Partners

In order to apply for funding, we need to finalise the design and cost plan for the restoration and refurbishment, which means we need to understand the structural design to stabilise the front wall. We co-created a brief for the structural engineer and approached engineers who have a Conservation Accredited Register of Engineers (CARE) engineer or relevant heritage experience to provide a quote for the works. Alan Wood & Partners have now been appointed and have began the work.

Public consultation undertaken

To ensure that we capture the widest and most diverse views and opinions from park users and visitors, we have designed a public consultation. The views collected will inform the design proposals, the future use of the building and help add weight to our funding bids. The consultation included a survey, ideas boards in the café designed by Newfield School's Cartoon Club and events in the park which enabled people to complete the survey.

Progressing funding

We have a funding strategy and have already begun identifying potential sources of funding for the work with £25,000 already committed by local councillors from the Beauchief and Graves Park area. In addition, over £10,000 has been raised through donations to the appeal led by the Friends of Graves Park