Plans to overhaul former Wigan Council offices given the green light

Wigan Council has approved a detailed planning application for ‘Civic’ – the project that will see the concrete, brutalist building on Millgate restored and repurposed.

Work started last November to strip out the unusable fittings, as well as carefully remove fixtures with no architectural merit, from plasterboard and flooring tiles to light fittings.

With planning permission now granted, the main works will soon get under way, with the first Civic workspaces expected to be available as early as spring 2025.

Social impact developers Capital&Centric - working in partnership with Wigan Council and supported by UKSPF – are writing a new chapter for the imposing building, first opened in 1970.

They’re on a mission to draw in businesses that want high-quality, designer workspaces outside of the city centre.

To do that, they’re packing Civic with facilities, from a gym and mini cinema, to cycle storage and relaxing roof terrace.

Exposed concrete inside will be framed by lush new plants and trees.

There’ll also be spaces for the public to enjoy, including a new coffee shop complete with a spill-out terrace, as well as outdoor seating spots along Millgate.

Development Manager at Capital&Centric Sabine Dunstan said: “The model for businesses across the country is changing. With hybrid working here to stay, people want more creative workspaces and increasingly need inspiring and social spaces that bring people together. Civic will do just that, with not only stunning office spaces in a design-led building, but loads of break-out amenity spaces that will foster interaction between neighbouring businesses.

“The green light from Wigan Council clears the way for the main restoration to get going.

"These 70s concrete buildings really divide opinion from people who either love or loathe them.

"We’re firmly in the former camp and we’ll prove brutalist can be beautiful. Civic has been dormant for too long and we can’t wait to reveal it’s new look next spring.”

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.

Capital&Centric is targeting for the building to be BREEAM ‘excellent’ – a recognised industry accreditation that sets the national standard for best practice in sustainable design, now widely used to measure a building’s environmental performance.

Leader of Wigan Council David Molyneux said: “This is a really exciting step forward for this project, set to create high quality business space alongside fantastic facilities, in our town centre.

“This sustainable redevelopment is just one of a number of exciting projects taking place across our town centre, including Wigan Pier, Eckersley Mills and of course the former Galleries, all supporting the regeneration of Wigan as a place where people choose to live, work, visit and invest.”

Businesses interested in locating to Civic are encouraged to register an early interest online at: www.capitalandcentric.com/civic