Exclusive look inside former Wigan Council offices to be turned into creative workspace including in-house cinema

Social mission developer Capital&Centric, which specialises in the restoration of concrete buildings, is set to breathe new life into the town centre’s 1970s grey edifice.

It used to accommodate council offices, but since the rejuvenation of Wigan Town Hall and the creation of the Life Centre, there has no longer been a municipal need for the place.

The civic centre was also for public service use as well but has stood empty for several years now.

Capital&Centric co-founder Tim Heatley said: “We start with a building that has been derelict for some time.

"There’s a whole host of furniture and decay around us but we’ve got big ambitions and big hopes for this building.

"We want to switch it back on again, get it full of life and get it full of people.

"Its always been offices and workspace and that’s what we’re proposing to do with the building in the future.

“We want to expose all of the beautiful beams, the concrete waffle ceilings, the timber and the stone cases.

"The bits that we can’t us, we’ll replace.

"The great thing about that is, its energy efficient.

"Its going to be a super green building as a result because the carbon that you need to switch it back on again.

"When this building was completed in the 60s and 70s, it was a really exciting time for Greater Manchester and for Wigan.

"It was a time of real change and ambition in the city-region.

"When it was built, Wigan Casino was right next door and that really put Wigan on the map.

"Whatever we do here, we have a real responsibility to celebrate and acknowledge that and root all of the things back into the 60s and 70s when all that exciting stuff was happening.”

When the Grand Arcade was being built in the mid-noughties, the Civic Centre figured in further plans for the complex – later scrapped when the recession hit – which involved knocking it down in favour of a swish new complex of restaurants, smaller offices and even a cinema.

But the only use it has been put to since closing has been for location shooting of the Morecambe-based crime drama The Bay where its facade was dressed up as a police station.

Coun David Molyneux, leader of Wigan Council said: “I think most people know the building, its iconic in Wigan.

"I think what we want to do with the building is quite futuristic in terms of our vision.

"What we will achieve here is something that Wiganers will be proud of.

"I certainly think its in much demand in terms of office space and its location.

“It’s definitely something that we feel very proud in terms of what we can achieve with the renovation of this building.”

Capital&Centric’s previous concrete restorations include Kampus, the garden neighbourhood near Manchester’s Canal Street. There they kept and restored the 60s concrete tower block, once home to Manchester Metropolitan University, into new homes as well as a concrete bunker on stilts – The Bungalow – into a village hall-type space for diverse pop-ups. Elsewhere, they delivered Bunker, turning a concrete storage unit in Liverpool into a stunning workspace that went on to win prestigious awards from RIBA and Architect’s Journal among others including Tempest.

Capital&Centric says plans for the space will be geared toward delivering incubator spaces for start-ups, co-working and small businesses, alongside larger spaces, coffee shops, outdoor decked hangouts, a roof garden and potentially a cinema.

The developer is currently going through the process of appointing an architect before submitting its plans to the council with the hope enabling works can be carried out towards the back end of the year.

It plans to restore it in two phases, boasting 32,000 sq.ft of workspace when completed.

The main contractor will then begin work in March/April next year with completion expected by March 2025.

Mr Heatley said: “It will be an office and workspace that’s ready for the future.

"For us, that means its got to have great meeting spaces and a great coffee bar and reception entrance.

"We want to have plug and play spaces where you can just rock up, use presentation screens and crack on with the important bit which is running and growing your business.

"We want to attract new businesses to Wigan and for them to have a base in the centre of the town.

"Hopefully, as a result create the big companies of the future from here.

"We’ve got ideas around a mini cinema perhaps that you can have conferences and do presentations there.

"In addition to that perhaps a gym space as well, I think that’s important now for the future as well as creating outdoor space.

"The connection to the outside and green space is really important now for health and well-being.

“When its sunny its great to go and base yourself outside where you can open a laptop and do a bit of work and enjoy being outdoors in a central, urban location but actually surrounded by landscaping as well.

"All that details got to be worked through but the bones of it are here.

"We’re really standing on the shoulders of giants here to create something really special, unique not just to Wigan but Greater Manchester as well.

"There is a huge amount of space and opportunity to do lots of exciting things to create the workspace in the future.

"We don’t know what that looks like entirely, we’re going to just push boundaries, pioneer and evolve our thoughts as we go through the process.”