Leaving London: Park Hill, Sheffield

I spent this last weekend in Sheffield, and it really wouldn't have been complete without a visit to Park Hill.

The estate, designed by Jack Lynn and Ivor Smith, was built between 1957 and 1961. Since then it has loomed over the city - a giant hunk of concrete and brick.

English Heritage gave it grade II* listing in 1998, making it the largest listed building in Europe.

Approaching from the ring road, the first buildings you see are the the tallest North Block and its slightly smaller neighbour, both of which have been refurbished by developer Urban Splash working with architects Hawkins Brown and Studio Egret West.

A newly landscaped path leads up to the building...

Glass lifts and shiny metal staircases will bring the new occupiers to their flats.

Where the renovated part ends is perhaps one of the world's most famous pieces of crap graffiti: "Clare Middleton I love you will u marry me", which has been partly immortalised in neon.

Claire Middleton didn't end up marrying the man in question and unfortunately died at a young age from cancer. (The story behind the graffiti was the subject of a Radio 4 documentary earlier this year).

It's sad to see the state of decay of the original buildings.

Walking around the back of the estate, stairs lead to the streets in the sky...

The corridors with no tenants left are completely boarded up.

The local boozer, integrated into the building, also abandoned.

Communal areas.

These photos really don't do justice to how marvellous it is to visit Park Hill. We walked around for hours and hours, seeing it from all over the city.