Saving & Reimagining Cannington Shaw. Thanks to brilliant local people and organisations, the No. 7 Bottle Shop has a new lease of life. Follow the revamp of this fascinating listed building into a rich community hub.
Cannington Shaw
BRINGING A GRADE II LISTED BUILDING AND SCHEDULED MONUMENT BACK TO LIFE
The No. 7 Bottle Shop is a rich piece of our past and together with St Helens Borough Council, Historic England and the people of our town, the Cannington Shaw Preservation Trust CIC is regenerating and repurposing a piece of that heritage.
A BIGGER VISION FOR THE NO: 7 BOTTLE SHOP
The project to reinvigorate the No.7 Bottle Shop is a gem in the £25 million St Helens Town Investment Plan. Work will commence in October 2023 to stabilise and repair what remains of one of the first successful regenerative furnaces in the world. The ultimate plans will involve seeing the historic bottle shop brought back to life in the community, providing space and services for events and leisure. As an educational facility, we will preserve Cannington Shaw’s ability to tell its story to the public as a living museum and a training facility by creating a Heritage Skills Academy. The Trust also wish to bring back the spirit of innovation which personifies the bottle shop and the town it is situated in.
PHASE .1. Stabilisation & Repair
These works will be funded by Town Deal, with £1.3 million coming from the £25 million to provide for service reconnections, facilities set up, stabilisation and repair to the structure itself. Essentially this stage of work will deliver a ‘Managed Ruin’ status, being a structure which will be safe for the public to interact with, but not a functioning building for occupation. A major component of this phase of works will be the Heritage Skills Academy, providing opportunity for modern apprentices to engage on a Heritage construction skills module. This will not only create a centre of excellence in St Helens, but will also go some way to addressing a national skills shortage in heritage construction methods. We will be working with St Helens College, St Helens Chamber and other organisations to give young people an opportunity to work with specialist heritage contractors to enhance their training with an insight into traditional construction skills. This first phase will also provide opportunity to work with Universities and corporate bodies to provide research and learning experiences in late 19th Century industrial archaeology and architecture, history and social study of the period.
PHASE .2. The Vision
The Trust are already at work on refining the the plans for what the Bottle Shop will be and are working with various organisations to secure the required funding to enable the ambition to be fulfilled; however, it is envisaged that Cannington Shaw will most importantly, be able to tell its story of what it was. Its History will be celebrated with the ability to interact with the structure as part of a greater Heritage World experience for St Helens.
The site will provide community access as a hub for use by charities, local organisations and not-for-profits. It will continue to support its Heritage Skills Academy in an evolving structure and as a centre of excellence and knowledge in Industrial Archaeology, Architecture, Industrial and Social History. The Trust will look to maximise revenue by presenting Cannington Shaw as unique venue for functions and conferencing, and as a potential leisure and recreation venue with artisan business, café/restaurant and niche attractions.
When the No: 7 Bottle Shop opened in 1886, it was at the forefront of technological development for glass production, the Trust wish to honour this, by reintroducing the building as a host for todays cutting edge technology. Initial studies are now underway to assess the suitability of Cannington Shaw as a green energy power generation facility. This bold initiative will put the No: 7 Bottle Shop back at the pioneering edge of innovation, in a unique proposition which would see a late 19th Century Bottle Shop come back into manufacturing use, housing state of the art technology and contributing to its own sustainability by generating tariff income. The Bottle Shop could potentially house a CHP (Combined Heat & Power) unit which would be fuelled by low carbon Hydrogen supplied by the emerging HyNet service. This would enable Cannington Shaw to supply power and heat needs to the local business and domestic community. Cannington Shaw, an iconic piece of industrial heritage, would be once more at the forefront of changing human history by contributing to the push back on climate change.
The Trust are a dedicated group of individuals determined to bring this unique piece of St Helens and World heritage back into use as a living and working building once more, whilst at the same time celebrating all that our town is famous for – innovation and forward thinking. We are equally determine that it should benefit the local community with jobs, support and at the same time contribute to the local economy.
Find out more at www.canningtonshaw.org.uk
