Gym, cinema room and café planned for start-up hub in former council office building

The Civic Centre on Millgate has long been surplus to requirements for Wigan Council following the revamp of the town hall and the Life Centre. Plans put forward by council contractor Capital & Centric include ‘incubator spaces’ for start-ups, co-working and small businesses; coffee shops; outdoor “hangout” areas; and a roof garden.

The planning application has now been submitted to the council which details additional plans for a gym, mini-cinema room on the lower ground floor.

The upper ground floor is touted for workspaces and commercial space for a café. The first and second floors would contain more workspaces, meeting rooms and call booths.

The top floor is where the roof terrace complete with plants and landscaping, is expected to be. The outdoor section of the building would maintain the green theme with terraced gardens and public seating on the paving and steps.

As a result of the works there would be 10 fewer car parking spaces putting the total capacity at 41 spaces. Four of these would be electric charging points and another four would be for disabled access.

Sabine Dunstan, Development Manager at Capital&Centric, said: “The bones of Civic are beautiful, but it’s long overdue a refresh. We’re planning to keep and celebrate all the original concrete detailing, but make it hands down the best workspace in the town centre and wider region.

“We’re planning to frame it with lush planting and new outdoor spaces where people can hang out in the summer, with new gardens that will really animate the whole, currently boarded-up, street.

“Impactful design doesn’t have to be the preserve of core city centres. We want entrepreneurs to see that they can have design-led, creative and social workspaces beyond the centre of Manchester. Doing so will help both retain and attract exciting businesses to Wigan, creating more job opportunities based in the town centre for decades to come.”

Wigan Civic Centre was built for council offices in the 1960s. The council moved out in 2018, meaning the building has been vacant for more than five years.

Coun David Molyneux MBE, leader of Wigan Council, speaking previously about the plans, said: “It’s fantastic to see work begin on the redevelopment of the Civic Centre and I’m looking forward to watching the transformation as it progresses. Capital&Centric’s vision for the building is exciting and will see the iconic building restored and transformed into an attractive and modern workplace of choice.

“There are lots of exciting projects taking place in Wigan town centre at the moment as part of our strategic regeneration framework, including the redevelopment of the Galleries, Wigan Pier and Eckersley Mills, along with the Heritage Action Zone project on King Street. Together these projects will help support the regeneration of Wigan into a place where people choose to live, work, visit and invest.”

This project comes at the same time as the town’s wider regeneration, which includes the Galleries situated off Market Street, where work is currently ongoing. Plans for the multi-media centre, the first phase of the Galleries project, include a cinema, 10-lane bowling alley and indoor mini-golf as well as new market hall with stalls, shops and offices.