St Helens Council – Bringing Buildings Back Into Use
The disused Earlestown Town Hall and the under-underutilised Gamble Building have been identified by St Helens Council as key priorities for investment. The local authority has committed to investing in both buildings with the objective of bringing them back into use.
PLACED was commissioned to help St Helens Council understand what local people feel should be the vision for the buildings, how investment could support wider regeneration and what the function of the revitalised buildings should be.
Building trust and opening a positive dialogue with the community were key to this engagement.
What we did
In order to do this, we delivered a mixture of pop-up engagement events and design workshops to find out the types of activities, events and organisations the local community wanted to see. We also sought their ideas on what they thought the best approach to developing the projects would be.
Creative and innovative solutions and the backing of the community are needed to make sure that both the Town Hall and the Gamble can thrive for future generations. Our engagement helped local people to consider the opportunities and challenges that these historic buildings face in order to reopen, and the types of partnerships and relationships that could create a successful project.
Your team conducted the work with real professionalism and I heard positive feedback along the way in how they successfully engaged people.”
– Councillor, St Helens
Outcomes
Our findings and recommendations are helping St Helens Council develop its strategy and plans for both buildings, which will be communicated back to local people to inform the next steps.