Plans for lower ground floor of Helston Budgens building

In July it was confirmed that the upper ground floor of the building in the Trengrouse Way car park – the former shop floor level – is to become a new medical facility, including a purpose-built GP practice for the patients of Meneage Street Surgery and community rooms for well-being related activities, including support for both physical and mental health.

You can read more about this here: Helston Budgens building to be new GP practice in Cornwall

Now plans have been announced for the rooms below this. The lower ground floor is a huge space made up from what was the warehouse, staff rooms and offices, plus a large garage space, all of which serviced the original supermarket.

Helston Place Shaping consultations held in 2022 highlighted the lack of facilities for young people in the area and further research proved that Helston has the worst ‘Community Needs Index’ (a measure of the available facilities for the community) of any town in Cornwall.

To find out exactly what facilities young people wanted, an open day was held in the derelict building in April. The open day was particularly targeted at young people, with 367 people of all ages attending.

A range of activites took place at an open day in the former Helston Budgens supermarkert lower ground floor (Image: NQ staff)

See more from that event here: Skating, graffiti and free pizza at open day in old Helston supermarket

Top requests were for:

• Climbing Wall (66.2%)
• Roller Skating (56.6%)
• Graffiti Art (53.5%)
• Chill Out Zone (48.0%)
• Indoor Skateboarding (47.0%)
• Parkour (42.9%)
• Music Practice and DJ Skills (35.4%)

Other popular responses included Coding Club, Community Café, Computer Gaming and Trampolining. In all, a wide range of more than 100 other suggestions were collected.

Working with the Furry Youth Café and other local groups, the project team has used this information to develop the Phase Two plans, aimed at creating a youth and family space.

The plan is for this to include a youth cafe extension (in addition to the existing youth cafe building in Meneage Street), climbing wall, activity space, music practice area and a multi-use ‘venue’ area for activities such as skating, concerts, clubs and films among others.

A planned layout for the lower ground floor (Image: SKA)

Once operational, the intention is for the facility to have full time coverage from youth support workers.

With income from the new GP surgery lease contributing to the running of the whole building, this will support the day-to-day costs of the lower ground floor - with those behind it saying this make this space very affordable to use.

However, the capital cost for the creation of the space still needs to be found. This is currently estimated at £1,039,000 to provide all of the facilities requested.

A spokesperson for the project team said: “It may be possible to develop the space in stages or modify the plans to suit a lower budget.

“There has been interest for a variety of more commercial uses, but the team are really keen to deliver the facilities that are needed for the community and especially by our young people.”

Young people could choose what they wanted to see the space used for at a community open day in April (Image: SKA)

A fully detailed Business Case and funding proposal has been developed and the team are now seeking the funding to complete second phase of the Helston Gateway project.

South Kerrier Alliance, which is overseeing the whole development, is keen to hear from anyone who can support the fundraising efforts.

“The plans for the lower floor will link closely with the GP surgery above, enabling cross-referral, with the whole building creating an integrated and sustainable physical and mental health facility for Helston.

“The project has been managed by a team from the Helston community whose voluntary work and support to develop the proposals is much appreciated.

“If you can help, especially with fundraising, the team can be contacted at helstongateway@theoldcattlemarket.co.uk,” added the spokesperson.

The upper floor, Phase One works, to create the GP surgery and community space is already underway, with capital funding for this phase secured from Cornwall Council through its Good Growth Programme and Town Centre Revitalisation Fund. Work is due to be completed in March 2025.

How the new medical facility should look inside once work is completed (Image: PBWC Architects)

The project has been made possible through South Kerrier Alliance CIC (SKA), Helios Health Partnership, Cornwall Council, and NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board (ICB) working together closely.

SKA is leading on the project, with £2.63 million of capital funding supplied by Cornwall Council through its Good Growth Programme and Town Centre Revitalisation Fund.

Helios is working in partnership with the Integrated Care Board to support the ongoing running costs of the new surgery. Building work has already begun, with a target date to complete by March 2025.

Funding of £2,131,806 is provided from central Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which is managed by Cornwall Council, with an additional £500,000 from Cornwall Council’s Town Centre Revitalisation Fund.