Portland Works was built in the 1870s as a cutlery works. It has an incredibly important part in Sheffield if not world history as the place where stainless steel was first manufactured in 1913.

Today the rent from metalwork workshops is not as much as from inner city flats so the owners have applied for planning permission to convert it, evicting the various metalwork businesses. Another of these (Wigfall tools) is one of the last works in Sheffield forging tools still using the historic forge workshops that were originaly built for the job.

The Victorian Society and English Heritage have taken an interest in the building which is grade II* listed but their interest lies primarily in the the fabric of the building.

Richard Caborn MP has taken up the case and there is a Facebook groupwhere you can find out more or sign up to register your support for the folk fighting to save this important bit of living heritage.

HCA Spring Conference
Saturday 24 March 2012 
Victoria & Albert Museum, London 
'Evolving Craft Communities'