Herdings Twin Towers

Queen Anne Court (left) and Queen Elizabeth Court (right) in March 2011, prior to construction of housing lower down the hill.

The Herdings Twin Towers are a pair of twin towers located in the Herdings residential suburb of southern Sheffield in the United Kingdom. Although not the tallest buildings in Sheffield, their location atop a hill makes their rooftops the highest manmade location in the city.

The towers were built in 1959; at the time of construction, there were actually three towers, receiving the nickname of the Three Sisters at the time. However, the third tower was demolished by controlled explosion on 13 October 1996^[1] after being declared unsafe, leading to the current Twin Towers nickname. The towers' location atop a hill has resulted in them being visible from across the city and beyond for many miles around, becoming iconic for the area.

The northern tower is named Queen Elizabeth Court, while the southern tower is named Queen Anne Court. The towers are both 38 metres tall to the rooftop, although Queen Anne Court has a radio mast on the roof which raises its total height to around 55 metres. Both towers are constructed from brick and concrete originally in the brutalist style typical of 1950s and 1960s apartment blocks in Sheffield. However, both towers were refurbished in 1998 to receive their current white cladding, with a green stripe on Queen Elizabeth Court and a blue stripe on Queen Anne Court.

Both towers are located on Raeburn Place; the area of this road around the location of the former third tower was redeveloped into semi-detached housing in 2013–2015. The towers are located close to Herdings Park and the associated Herdings Park Supertram Purple Route light rail stop, as well as the Herdings Park bus terminus, currently served by First South Yorkshire routes 1A and 56.

References

Coordinates: 53°20′37″N 1°26′20″W / 53.3435°N 1.4390°W / 53.3435; -1.4390