In recent decades Sheffield has been working hard to move on from its reputation as the original Steel City. In this report we will look at what is being done now, and what is planned, to redevelop and regenerate the city for the future.

Having moved on from a reliance on steel, industries which are important to Sheffield’s economy and property market today include financial services, legal, telecoms, creative and digital, health and education.

However, there is also a positive move towards building on the city’s manufacturing heritage, and to create more high value jobs, by developing modern and advanced manufacturing industries.

There have been a number of economic regeneration initiatives in recent years. The Sheffield City Region Enterprise Zone was set up more than a decade ago and provided a focus for developing future-facing industries. Key projects here include the Advanced Manufacturing Park or AMP. It hosts the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) of the University of Sheffield and high profile companies including the Nuclear AMRC, Boeing and McLaren Automotive. An Investment Zone for South Yorkshire was announced in 2023 and is also focussed on advanced manufacturing. At launch the government claimed the zone will lead to £1.2bn of private funding and 8,000 jobs as soon as 2030.

Sheffield is a major UK student city and it is estimated around 10% of the city population are students. The University of Sheffield is based mainly to the north west of the city centre. Sheffield Hallam University has a campus in the city centre and another two miles away on Ecclesall Road.

Sheffield has long had a sizable PRS student property sector with popular student locations being both the suburbs near the universities and, increasingly, the city centre. There has been very extensive PBSA development here in recent years. A report from StuRents suggests this market could be becoming oversupplied and that of late operators have faced ‘struggles’ to fill PBSA beds in Sheffield. As elsewhere there are concerns over international student numbers in future, due to possible tighter visa restrictions and the level of international fees. A Sheffield Hallam University spokesperson has been reported as saying the university could lose £20m in fee income in 2024-25. The university has lost £60m over the last seven years and has said jobs could be lost to reduce costs.