Globe Works, Sheffield

The Globe Works is a former cutlery factory which is now a listed heritage site. Designed by the architects Henry and William Ibbotson, for the edge tool manufacturers Ibbotson & Roebank, it was built in 1825 and, as such, remains one of England's oldest surviving cutlery and tool factories, and, possibly, the first purpose-built such enterprise in the world.

Eminent industrialist, Charles Cammell, worked here, for Ibbotson Brothers, between 1830 and 1837, prior to setting up his own firm. Another well known industrialist, William Edgar Allen, worked at the Globe Works as a young man before leaving to set up the Edgar Allen and Company steelworks, in 1867. In 1852, John Walters moved his knife-making business here from the city centre.

The building has an ornamental Classical Revival-style façade made of coarse square stone and brick. The frontage features two storeys with nine windows on each storey, and a pedimented middle section with an additional half storey. Back in the day, behind this façade there were furnaces, a manager's residence and a cobbled courtyard with many smaller workshops. The owner's house was also integrated into the design, at the southern end, which is the probable reason for the façade's grandness. Entrance to the house was in the side wall, which today serves as the main entrance to and reception hall of the building.

Entrance to the factories, inside the courtyard, was through an enormous archway, to the right, designed to allow passing of horse-driven carts and carriages. The upstairs packing rooms and office had to be accessed via an outside staircase.

In 1970, the Globe Works was nearly demolished in order to make space for an urban motorway construction. Later in the decade, the building suffered extensive damage from an arson attack, in 1978. During the late 1980s, it was renovated, as part of the Kelham Island Conservation Area, seeing much of its original fabric retained, and was turned into a modern office space. The latter, known as the Globe Business Centre, is now home to nearly two dozen companies.