Capital&Centric submit plans for Wigan town centre workspace Civic

Social impact developers Capital&Centric have submitted plans for new town centre workspaces to be dubbed ‘Civic’ to Wigan Council. It’s another step forward for their plans to overhaul the former civic centre to create Wigan’s best workplace.

The application reveals more details of what’s planned for the concrete, brutalist building that first opened in the 70s and was used as council offices. The concrete details of the space will be exposed and celebrated in the design, with Civic boasting modern, creative workspaces for a range of start-up and growing businesses.

It’ll also feature a coffee shop with outdoor seating, gym, mini cinema and cycle storage available to tenants. A rooftop terrace is also on the cards, with a hidden deck, pergola and seating surrounding by lush planting – a contemplative outdoor getaway for warmer days.

The grey of the concrete will be offset with pops of green accents on the building itself. It’ll be surrounded by lush, verdant new gardens, with the existing raised walkway flanked by planters, pots, trees, trailing greenery and new breakout seating spaces along Millgate.

Capital&Centric, who are working in partnership with Wigan Council and supported by UKSPF as part of a post-Covid drive to create standout workspaces in Greater Manchester’s towns, are planning to protect and restore as much of the original modernist structure as possible.

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.” 

The big vision is to tempt organisations to set up or expand in Wigan, with what promises to be some of the highest quality and most creative workspaces on the market when done. Businesses interested in locating to Civic are encouraged to register an early interest online at: www.capitalandcentric.com/civic

Work has already started on the local landmark to strip out unusable fittings and prepare the site for restoration. It’s expected that works could get fully underway in Spring 2024, with the first businesses able to move in in Summer  2025.

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.