Funding agreed to redevelop Wiltshire building into flexible workspace

Wiltshire Council’s Cabinet has agreed to refurbish Melksham House into a flexible workspace and a multi-purpose area for the community.

The refurbishment will provide flexible office and meeting room spaces and the community hall at the rear of the building will be restored to create activity spaces.

The improvements will also include sustainability measures including LED lighting, air source heat pumps and photovoltaics.

£2.8m will be released by the Cabinet, alongside £2m already in place, to fund the redevelopment and demolish the Blue Pool.

Cllr Phil Alford, Wiltshire Council Cabinet Member for Housing, Strategic Assets and Asset Transfer, said: ‘I’m pleased that we’ve managed to confirm the route forward for Melksham House, as that will provide a solid foundation for us to strategically plan and ensure our vision for the town can become a reality. Flexible work space in the heart of the town, next to a bustling community campus, will be an attractive proposition for businesses.

‘Looking at the bigger picture for Melksham, we will work collaboratively with partners and ensure decisions about the future of the key publicly owned sites in the town are not made in isolation, and that that they are in the absolute best interests of the local community.’

The scheme for the redevelopment of Melksham House was given planning consent in October this year.

The Council has previously budgeted for the works as part of a planning condition for the new Melksham Community Campus, which opens next year.

In related news, the transformation of Moseley Road Baths and Balsall Heath library in Birmingham has received a major boost with the allocation of £15.5m of Levelling-Up funding.

The funding will enable the first phase of plans to transform the Grade II listed baths and library.

The Baths were saved from closure thanks to local campaigning, and it now hosts a popular programme of swimming and wellbeing activities run by the community.

Photo by XPS