IN FOCUS | St Helens aims to banish demons of past false dawns 

With an ambitious regeneration project on the horizon, Place North West spoke to the people shaping the town’s future about showing conviction, becoming obsessed with detail, and putting St Helens on the map for something other than glass and rugby.  

False dawns

Local residents understandably had reservations when the council announced plans to transform the town centre in 2021. Similar promises have been made and broken before.  

In 2017, the council released a 20-page brochure titled Transforming Our Town, which outlined ambitious £300m proposals for a revamped St Helens. The project was never delivered.  

“[The residents] have seen pretty pictures before,” said Lisa Harris, St Helens Council’s executive director of place services. “It’s the scepticism and the false dawns, that’s our biggest challenge.” 

Even the most sceptical resident would have to admit that things feel different now compared to six years ago. 

While that old £300m plan never got off the ground, an outline planning application for a new transformation project was approved last year and a contractor, VINCI, has been appointed for the first phase of work. 

Earlier this month, a reserved matters planning application was submitted for a 120-bedroom hotel, 65 town centre homes, a market hall, and office space, which will be delivered once the Hardshaw Centre – acquired by the council last year with regeneration in mind – is knocked down. 

The hotel (left) will feature blue accents inspired by the former Pilkington headquarters. Credit: Virtual Planit

Being bold

Perhaps the clearest signal that St Helens’ vision might this time become a reality is the council’s courageous decision to pump £70m into the project at a time when one in five councils fear bankruptcy.  

“When you look at the financial resources and the pressures facing local government, to actually be brave enough to dig deep into that limited resource to allocate and ringfence £70m wasn’t an easy decision,” said Sean Traynor, St Helens director of strategic growth. 

He explained that to break the inertia the council recognised it would have to be bold. 

“The council itself is going to have to show conviction,” Traynor said. “For future phases, we’ll get that return. But there’s nobody else that is going to money into town centre projects of this nature.” 

Harris believes the decision to fund phase one in the face of economic headwinds demonstrates the council’s confidence in the area. 

“£69m is not to be sniffed at,” she said. “St Helens is a place where really ingenious things have happened in the past and we are going to do the same again. The entrepreneurial spirit is already here, we are just giving it a place to thrive.” 

Embracing obsession

While the council is footing the bill for the first phase of work, St Helens has put an experienced regeneration specialist in charge of the project. 

English Cities Fund, made up of Muse, Legal & General, and Homes England, was appointed on a 20-year development agreement in 2021 and is prolific in the arena of town centre transformation. 

In the North West alone ECF – or Muse by itself – can be found plying its trade in Salford, Blackpool, Oldham, Stockport, Wirral, Warrington, and Bury. 

While boasting a clear track record for delivery, ECF’s ubiquity in the region’s down-at-heel town centres might legitimately provoke concerns. If one developer is active in so many places, is there a danger that the end result might be a series of identikit towns? 

There is a boilerplate formula for town centre regeneration that features the same ingredients: a new or updated market, residential, independent retail, increased leisure provision, and improved public realm. The difference from one project to the next, according to Muse director Stuart Rogers, is in the detail. 

“That model does work as a philosophy,” he said. “The bit that people don’t really see is the obsession. 

“We could come and build a load of houses and walk away but that is not regeneration. Regeneration is taking the community on the journey.” 

Getting under the skin of a place and into the minutiae of a project is what will ultimately make it succeed, according to Rogers. In St Helens that means examining the size of the hotel rooms, office floorplates, and the market that are proposed. 

Obsession also means including bespoke details that are distinctly St Helens, like the stained-glass windows planned for the market hall and the specific shade of blue – inspired by the windows of the former Pilkington headquarters – that will be reflected in the hotel. 

This level of attention to detail was something St Helens insisted upon from the outset. Having seen the first concept drawings, Traynor and Harris demanded more. 

“The first iterations could appear to the outside world like a cut and paste of something that has happened elsewhere. We got onto that straightaway and challenged that,” Traynor said.  

“The position here was ‘don’t give me a precedent image of somewhere else. I want from the first bones of a drawing for it to be St Helens-factored’.”

St Helens Council plans to occupy some of the 50,000 sq ft ofi office space proposed in phase one. Credit: Virtual Planit

Bringing people back to St Helens

Speaking to local organisations to find out how they can benefit from the regeneration of the town has also played a key role in shaping the proposals. 

One of those organisations is Glass Futures, which Rogers, Traynor, and Harris all agree could be a game-changer for St Helens. 

“I don’t think people recognise how much of a step change that is in innovation in the glass industry,” Rogers said. “There are businesses relocating staff from North America to be closer to Glass Futures.” 

The scheme, which completed earlier this year, will help bring people back into St Helens, which is one of the main aims of the town centre regeneration project. 

The 3,000 St Helens Council staff, many of whom used to venture into the town centre for their lunch, have not returned en masse since the pandemic, which has been a blow to the town. 

The council hopes to entice some workers back to the office by occupying some of the Grade A workspace due to be delivered in phase one, a strategy that local authorities like Oldham and Wirral have also adopted. 

While the daytime economy has suffered from the decline of retail and the effects of the pandemic, activity in the evening is almost non-existent. 

“If you go into town after five o’clock there’s no one there,” Rogers said. “Nobody stops, nobody dwells, people just come in, buy something and go.” 

The transformation of St Helens is about creating an all-day economy and breathing new life into a town that has stood still while neighbours including Wigan and Warrington have cracked on. 

Playing catch-up

St Helens, whose last major regeneration project was the delivery of the rugby stadium 10 years ago, has some catching up to do. The ability to deliver at speed and avoid delays that so often plague this type of project is crucial. Perhaps more important are the individuals behind the scheme.

Projects like the one proposed in St Helens are only as good as the people delivering them. 

Take Traynor, who was born and raised in St Helens. He is clearly proud and excited to be involved in shaping the future of his hometown, not just because it is his job, but because he is delivering something for his family and his mates down the pub.  

The pressure to get it right will result in sleepless nights, but it can only be a good thing. 

For him, the aim is simple. 

“[It is about] empowering people to say they are proud of St Helens, and giving them more to talk about than rugby and glass.”