A new base for helping young people in and around Avenham is taking shape ahead of opening in Spring next year.

The Foxton is redeveloping its Knowsley Street site after receiving nearly £2million in government funding to support building the state-of-the-art youth facilities.

Inside the building will be a new kitchen, open hall area for activities, games room and wellbeing room.

Read more: The Foxton Centre says 23 homeless people died in Preston in the past 16 months

The first floor also includes an outdoor balcony with a view towards the city centre – which is already proving popular.

Cath Coffey, development, youth and community manager, said: “We’ve taken some of the young people who helped to create and design this new building round the site and they already love that bit [the balcony] and looking towards the city centre.

“It’s great to stand in here and feel it coming together ahead of being open and it is really special how our youngsters themselves have been involved throughout the process.”

The funding received for the new Avenham building covers the building costs alone – which means the charity will need to look for support to fit out the interior. Funding for the building has come from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)’s Youth Investment Fund.

Chief executive Jeff Marsh, who is due to stand down early next year after nearly a decade of service, said: “I think it’s exciting to see it all going up and there’s a lot of hard work happening.

“There’s a lot of investment in youth services in the city right now and that’s very pleasing to see.

“We provide a lot of different services for the Avenham and surrounding areas so to have this building back up and running will be really important.”

The previous Foxton building on the site, which dated back to the late 1960s, had to be closed when reinforced aerated concrete (RAAC) was uncovered in the structure ahead of the demolition in April this year of the building.

Cath said the previous building had its challenges as it could only be used by one group at a time.

She said: “Because of the nature of the building and how it evolved it means we couldn’t have one activity in the kitchen and another in the hall – whereas in this new building we’ll be able to have different activities and groups using it at one time because of how it has been designed.”

The installation of dedicated space for the community to access computers, learning spaces and WiFi has been an important part of the build.

Cath said: “Digital poverty is a big issue in Avenham and one we are working to address.

“For a lot of young people who use The Foxton we found they came to us as a space where they could do their homework, because they are living in places with lots of people in – so it’s busy.

“And just generally internet connectivity is one of those things that beyond having it on your phone it’s a bill which can be cut back when you’re under pressure financially.”

The mystery of Lady Bomanji

During the construction of the new building the plaque from the original unveiling of the former Foxton Centre was found.

Jeff said: “They were knocking through the walls and there had been a false wall built in front of where the plaque had been.

“We’ve done a bit of research and Lady Bomanji was from a wealthy family at that time but as far as we can tell she had no connection to Preston or The Foxton – but had opened the centre.

“If anyone has any information and can shed some light we’d appreciate it.”

Cath said they hoped to have many of their young people to cut the ribbon on the new centre in the Spring when it opened.

Becoming ‘Foxton’

As well as the new building going up the charity has also unveiled a new name, branding, website and social media presence.

Dropping the word ‘centre’, Jeff said they would be known as ‘Foxton’ reflecting the range of sites and services they now operated.

Jeff said: “From the services we provide to young people, to the work that goes on to help the homeless at Fox Street and also our sex workers outreach work there’s a lot that goes on at Foxton.

“So we felt this name is encompassing of everything that we do in the city – building our strong roots from our beginnings in Avenham.”

The rebranding work has been undertaken by Freshfield, and the new website has been funded by insolvency firm, Begbies Traynor and the project undertaken by TeeGee Digital.

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