The Bolton News
28/05/2009

PLANS for a new community centre in a disused church in Halliwell look set to be given the green light.

The Church Conservation Trust has applied for permission to remove pews and the existing nave floor from All Souls’ Church in Astley Street and construct a three-story centre within the body of the existing church.

Members of Bolton Council’s planning committee have been recommended to approve the plans at their meeting today.

The innovative £3.6 million scheme, which was revealed in The Bolton News last month, will house meeting spaces, consultation rooms, conference spaces, library, exhibition space, classrooms and a gym.

The centre is made up of a series of glass pods sitting within the church building, which dates from the late 19th century and has been empty for 23 years.

The church was designed by the renowned Gothic revivalist architects Paley and Austin and paid for by local mill owners Nathaniel and Thomas Greenhalgh.

Peter Aiers, the Churches Conservation Trust major project manager, said: “This high-quality 21st century addition to a significant listed building not only delivers the space required to provide a range of community services, it also reflects how modern design can work with historic buildings.”

If passed, construction on the centre is expected to start early next year with the centre — believed to be the first of its kind in the UK — due to open in summer 2011.