St Helens
St Helens, like many post industrial towns, had seen the demise of major industries and big employers such as glass making and had lost its way. The town was searching for its identity whilst at the same time looking to repurpose the centre through major investments and regeneration. It needed to find a reason for people to make use of the place other than retail.
The brand and narrative was used to drive an investment programme with a major focus being a desire to becoming ‘culturally centred’ which required a merging of arts and culture organisations and buildings, re-using empty properties for artists and working more closely with the Arts Council. St Helens was named as the first Borough of Culture for Liverpool City Region. A significant ambassadors programme has been launched and the town is doing things differently by communicating the narrative to all Head Teachers so they can inspire young people and GPs to connect them to place led regeneration.
A traditional ‘master-planning’ or economic development strategy approach would not work for St Helens given this mix of circumstances. We needed to redefine the ‘story of place’ to be able to challenge perception and attract investment. We also needed to mobilise our business sector on that journey so that they too had more confidence in what might be achieved. The work of thinkingplace has significantly contributed to that new approach.
