Co-location and asset consolidation, business viability and options

The Floral Pavilion is one of Wirral’s largest cultural assets, with generous public areas and a strong programme of theatre, music, and conferencing. The challenge was to secure its long-term future while maximising community impact, reducing costs for the council, and aligning with New Brighton’s wider regeneration agenda.

Wirral spends £3.2m annually on library services, but many facilities underperform in outdated buildings with poor connectivity. Nationally, library visits have fallen 52% since 2010 and lending is down 63%, highlighting the urgency of change. At the same time, repairs and renewals at the Pavilion alone were costed at £2.9m, underscoring the need for asset consolidation.

PlaceCulture carried out a root-and-branch financial review and tested the potential of co-locating services. Theatres typically lack steady daily footfall, but combining cultural and civic uses can create regular patterns of use that strengthen both community relevance and commercial resilience.

Our report recommended transforming the Pavilion into an integrated arts and community hub. Design interventions to the foyer and shared spaces would enable the co-location of a new library, youth services, public health, social care, and children’s services alongside the theatre. This model promised greater civic value, an uplift of 130,000 visits, stronger commercial performance, and annual savings of £418k.

The proposal also supports New Brighton’s wider growth, complementing 250 new homes, a 90-bed hotel, and other developments. Wirral Borough Council has adopted our recommendations in full and is now preparing the business case for implementation.