John Puttick’s conversion of Grimsby warehouses into youth club approved

John Puttick Associates (JPA) has secured planning consent to turn a cluster of neglected Grade II-listed granary warehouses in Lincolnshire into a new youth centreThe London-based practice’s scheme aims to ‘breathe new life’ into the former West Haven Maltings and Migar House buildings in Grimsby, constructed from the 1820s onwards on the River Freshney.The scheme will retrofit the existing buildings and introduce new additions such as a zinc-clad sports hall with a saw-tooth roof and a climbing wall, to create Horizon Youth Zone for national youth charity OnSide.Horizon, which is being delivered in partnership with North East Lincolnshire Council and the local business community, will become the 15th centre run by OnSide, which has built a network of centres across the UK’s most disadvantaged areas.Under the plans, the largest warehouse will be opened up to create a generous central gathering space where young people can meet, join activities and enjoy a hot meal.The scheme also includes a single-storey building that will house a new performance space and an outside area with a football pitch and skatepark.As a charity, OnSide’s aim is to develop ‘21st-century youth facilities’ across the UK, and give young people ‘somewhere to go, something to do and someone to talk to’. It welcomes 200 or more young people to each site in its network daily at a cost of 50p per visit.The latest project is modelled on OnSide’s 14 existing Youth Zones, including a scheme in Croydon which opened in 2019, also designed by John Puttick Associates.Its other clubs are located in Bolton, Blackburn, Wigan, Carlisle, Manchester, Oldham, Wolverhampton, Wirral, Chorley, Barking and Dagenham, Barnet, Croydon and East Manchester.Work is currently underway on a Youth Zone in Warrington, designed by Seven Architecture, and another in London’s White City being built as part of charity Ark’s EdCity hub, designed by Sheppard Robson.