Harmony Works - Developing a heritage asset for a new home for music education

Harmony Works is a visionary project which will repurpose Canada House, a Grade II* listed building in the heart of Sheffield, to create a new cultural/education centre for young musicians. It is led by the Sheffield Music Academy and Sheffield Music Hub, working with their partners Music in the Round and Brass Bands England.  As part of Sheffield City Council’s city centre vision, it aligns with the University's current partnership with the Council on the successful Future High Streets Fund bid to rejuvenate Sheffield’s historic high street and put culture at the centre of the continuing transformation of the city centre. In January 2025, Harmony Works received £4.7m development support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund which has been described as "completely game changing". 

“Working with Live Projects and then Live Works has enabled us to turn a project that previously existed as a ‘maybe one day’ dream into a reality."

Emily Pieters

Director of Harmony Works 

How is the University of Sheffield supporting Harmony Works?

• The Department of Music is engaged with Harmony Works to determine future collaboration opportunities such as student’s utilising the space and potential daytime/weekday occupancy. 
• The School of Architecture and Landscape’s masters students have been involved with Harmony Works through Live Projects. Preliminary drawings from a 2017 Live Project formed the basis for the project’s pre-application for planning permission and another Live Project in 2022 looked at how the vision for Canada House can link into the public realm beyond the building eg. Castlegate and the Grey-to-Green scheme.  This important work  contributed to a revised project funding bid in November 2022. 
• The School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, is using the Harmony Works project as a case study for Creative Re-use of Heritage Buildings. 
• The University’s Head of Cultural Engagement also sits on the Sheffield Music Academy Board to support the Harmony Works project developments. 

Students and staff from the School of Architecture and Landscape have been working with Harmony Works since 2017 when a student ‘Live Project’ developed a design vision for Canada House that kickstarted the project. Since then, through our civic engagement project office Live Works, we have supported Harmony Works with further design development, community engagement and funding applications."

Carolyn Butterworth 

Director of Live Works

Why Harmony Works is important to the University of Sheffield?

• The project is part of our Made Together programme of activities with our partners to contribute to make the region healthier, greener, more culturally vibrant and innovative for all. The Harmony Works development and the regeneration of Castlegate, Sheffield's most historic quarter are aligned to our ‘Developing infrastructure’ strand of activity. 
• One of the key conclusions of the snapshot of Sheffield’s classical music sector report funded by the University of Sheffield was the opportunities for talent development in the city.   Harmony Works will give partners unprecedented opportunities to collaborate and to grow the benefits they offer the young people of the region as well as demonstrate the importance of sustainable music education.
• Another recommendation of the report was the need for a permanent home with a variety of spaces that have been specifically designed for teaching, practising and performing music. Canada House provides this variety: from the lofty, ornate, glass domed main hall to the brick vaulted basement rooms, it has spaces of various sizes and characters to suit all musical genres and sizes of groups.
• Together Harmony Works strengthens the University’s ongoing work to present Sheffield as a Music City destination.