Plans to turn Redditch Town Hall into community hub moving forward

A planning application has been submitted to Redditch Borough Council for two extensions and associated work to facilitate a community hub at the town hall.

Services including Citizens Advice and Cranstoun which offers alcohol and drug support have already signed up to set up shop in the proposed hub.

An NHS service, Healthy Minds and CAMHS service has already relocated into the town hall.

Redditch Library could also feature in the hub if Worcestershire County Council approves the borough council’s request to move it from its existing site.

If the library is moved then there are also proposals to regenerate its current site into a new shopping and leisure plaza, designed to improve the connection between the Kingfisher Shopping Centre and the rest of the town centre.

This is what the new reception area in the community hub could look like. (Image: Redditch Borough Council.)

A design and access statement accompanying the application states: “The aim is the refurbishment of the existing building, which will be utilised to facilitate a new community ‘one stop’ offering flexible use to a variety of occupiers sharing resources where possible.

“The ground floor will become the central focal point of the scheme, aided with clear way finding to facilitate ease of use for the wider public and staff.

“This will involve re-orientation and re-configuration of under utilised spaces and rely on the established structural grid of the existing building to offer flexibility of space.

“During the design process, The Hive building in Worcester was mentioned as a precedent for a building which combines a number of existing civic and local government services within the one building.”

The statement adds that the existing building has been used as an office building but due to the recent shift in home and hybrid working, the office space is being underused.