Year | 2011
Location | Heeley, Sheffield, UK
Client | Recycle Bikes; Heeley Development Trust
Recycle Bikes is an independent, not for profit bike project which currently exists in a small industrial unit in Heeley, Sheffield. To the public they offer many services including a shop which is focused on selling donated bikes they make good. Other focuses for Recycled Bikes include the service, repair of bikes and the training [youth and adult] that takes place on their premises. The youth training that takes place comes through Sheffield City Council’s Vocational Skills Programme where specific ‘teachers’ at Recycle Bikes offer their knowledge to help develop students bike mechanic and functional skills, and personal and social skills with aims to achieve qualifications that can earn GCSE points. Accompanying this Recycle Bikes provides adult evening classes which offer training to anyone interested, on bicycle maintenance and service.
Recycle Bikes was adopted by Heeley Development Trust in 2005 as part of its collection of local initiatives. Its primary focus: establishing Heeley as a successful, vibrant and inclusive community. One of the current main focus for HDT is the redevelopment of the former Anns Grove School site where it is envisioned that Recycle Bikes will be relocated alongside other local Artists and makers and small scale Digital media businesses.
Anns Road School is a Grade II listed board school that was constructed at the turn of the 19th Century. The three main buildings of rock faced stone with ashlar dressings and gabled and slate roofs, are arranged at the corners of a rectangular site enclosed and linked by a boundary wall with gateways.
Having developed a basic relocation plan HDT approached the Live Project initiatives with the initial challenge of generating ideas and aspirations of how Recycled Bikes operations can be effectively transferred to the new site. With the proviso that ideas, designs and materials produced by the team would be used for funding applications for the new space fit out as well as developing a coherent spatial strategy for Recycle Bikes future operations.