ST HELENS Chamber has placed a prominent town centre building on the market. 

The Hardshaw Street premises, which has housed the Chamber's Clickworks centre since 2018, has been put up for sale.

The 4,074 sq ft building is up for a sale price of £350,000.

St Helens Chamber says it will plough the revenue savings and capital receipt from its latest asset review into a range of services.

The Chamber decided to place the "surplus building" on Hardshaw Street in St Helens town centre on the market and says it will will use the sale proceeds to deliver more of its courses for employers and young people.

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The Chamber says that annually more than 2,000 people attend courses and receive careers support, in a range of subjects. It adds savings of £44,000 annually, plus the capital receipt from the sale of the Hardshaw Street building will allow the Chamber to deliver more support, chief executive at St Helens Chamber Tracy Mawson says.

“We periodically review our assets to make sure we are making best use of them and that they are helping us achieve our mission of making St Helens a competitive and attractive place for employers,” she said.

“Releasing 4 – 6 Hardshaw Street back to the market will create jobs in its refurbishment and allow new uses to emerge as the town centre continues its regeneration. It’s a prominent former bank building and I’ll be interested to follow its next iteration.”

The building was acquired more than 22 years ago and had been fitted out as a training and advice centre, with a hair salon on the second floor. 

The Chamber says potential next uses could be for retail or a restaurant on the ground floor, with residential space above.  

“This is a popular pedestrianised street in the heart of the town centre and we expect interest in the building to be high," added Ms Mawson.

"Subject to planning, it lends itself to a number of uses and has the benefit of a lift to all floors.”

The building is set to close later this year, with service users being transferred to the Chamber’s main building on Salisbury Street or community-based locations around the Borough. 

No courses or services are being discontinued or changed, and a purpose-built salon will be hired to deliver the Chamber’s popular hairdressing courses.

“The St Helens economy has weathered a number of storms lately in pretty good shape and our range of training and service programmes will continue to be forward-facing in terms of what is needed to build on the town’s competitiveness,” said Ms Mawson. 

“If residents and businesses haven’t had a look at what we offer I’d urge them to do so as we have a range of free skills programmes all designed to link to new jobs or progression in careers.”

Simon Roddam of BE Group is the retained agent handling the sale.  He can be contacted on 01925 822 112.