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The Place in Oakengates is a one stop venue for a number of new services which has retained the theatre at its heart. The tired building of Oakengates Theatre has been transformed by being enveloped by a range of different services for the community and provided a unique opportunity to join up services in a creative and innovative way.
The theatre is now joined by a library service, a children’s centre with wrap around day care services, a lifelong learning training centre, a gallery, office accommodation for small businesses, café and meeting rooms.
The vision was to create a whole experience for customers by providing a range of opportunities to participate further, but moreover to integrate complimentary services and provide a unique provision for customers who could now leave their child in the nursery, train on a course in the learning centre, research their project in the library, build their new business in one of the small business units upstairs and bring their family to a wealth of entertaining experiences at the theatre.
The ERDF funding received to develop the esisting Oakengates Theatre site, now renamed, The Place, has created new jobs for the area including 2 new permanent posts at the theatre complex and office space for SME's supporting local businesses in the area.
The local impact of The Place has rippled throughout the borough and has enhanced the long term regeneration of the town and enhanced the facilities available to the local community and business community. The new and improved theatre space has also had an important effect on the night time economy for the town as the new facilities have given Oakengates a higher profile and new customers and users has increased dramatically.
The installation of the bio-mass heating system has enabled The Place to contribute to a long term environmental strategy to save on fossil fuel and use fuel from renewable sources.
Outcomes
• Day time use of the building has transformed the centre and made it a focal point for the town.
• The regeneration of this building has brought more people into the area and encouraged them to stay.
• Economic benefits for the town
• Increased Patron numbers for theatre events
• Increased number of events at the theatre/complex
• Increased provision for hard to reach groups through programming and events
• Increased book lends
• Provision of 18 computers for public use (4 exclusively)
• Increased resources
• Savings on building/revenue costs due to relocation of services
For more information visit www.theplacetelford.com
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