TAKE a look at how the remodelling work taking place on Crown Buildings in Wrexham town centre is coming along.

The work is part of a new project to transform the ground floor of the old building into Wrexham’s new ‘Community Health and Wellbeing facility.’

With the help of funding from the Welsh Government, the space will provide integrated health, social care, third sector and community services. The aim is to make it easier for people, families and carers of all ages to access information, advice and support.

The building was originally built in the 1960’s and provided four storeys of office accommodation.

Ainsley Gommon Architects and Read Construction are working for Wrexham County Borough Council to deliver the refurbishment.

Ainsley Gommon described the project as: "The brief required the remodelling and refurbishment of the building to meet the council’s current and future needs, whist incorporating much needed improvements in environmental performance. The upper floors are being refurbished to provide flexible office accommodation with open plan areas, individual offices, meeting rooms and break out spaces, designed to accommodate modern working methods. On the ground floor, a new main entrance into the building is proposed from the north, addressing the main public Waterworld car park. This leads into a new centre for the provision of social services, with fully accessible spaces providing community and specialist services to the public, including ‘Changing Places’ facilities. A small extension is proposed to provide café facilities for visitors to the building."

The design proposals will significantly improve the building’s energy performance. Working closely with the contractor and their designers the focus has been on a “fabric first” approach to improve the overall thermal efficiency of the building envelope to reduce carbon emissions.

The roof area will be fully utilised to house a substantial array of photovoltaic panels, which will further improve the building’s carbon footprint through on-site renewable energy production.

Wrexham’s Community Health and Wellbeing facility is a partner project between Wrexham Council, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board and AVOW. It will build on services that are already available in Wrexham town centre and other local areas.

The space will act as the central location for a range of accessible facilities, allowing people and families with wide ranging support needs to become more involved with community services as well as having easy access to preventative information and advice.

The upper floors of the building will become a base for social care staff helping to deliver children’s and adult’s services, as well as becoming the new location for our Education and Early Intervention Department.

The works will take up to 18 months to complete with the facility expected to be open to the public in early 2022.