Express & Star

VIDEO and PICTURES: Behind the scenes at Wolverhampton's amazing new youth zone

With a little over 100 days until its official opening, Wolverhampton's new £6 million youth zone The Way is starting to take shape.

Published
The Way will include an array of activities, including a climbing wall

The Express & Star has been given an exclusive behind the scenes tour of the state-of-the-art new facilities, as one of Wolverhampton's biggest dreams starts to become a reality.

The glass panels are in place, the kitchen equipment has been fitted, basketball nets are up, as is the climbing wall, the punch bags have just been delivered, the flooring for the dance studio is down... the list goes on.

It is no wonder that patron and Wolves board member John Gough beams as he says he thinks the new state of the art Youth Zone will be finished in four to five weeks.

Sitting just off Worcester Street, the new building will be a one stop hub for all eight-19 year-olds in Wolverhampton and surrounding areas when it opens its doors in January next year.

The site of Wolverhampton's new youth zone The Way, just off Worcester and near Summer Row, has a colourful and interesting history.

For 98 years the site was the home of Wolverhampton's famous 1,200 seater Scala cinema.

The cinema closed in 1956 but the building 1956 but was re-used in various forms including as a bingo hall, shops and nightclub.

It was a listed building so demolition was not an option.

In 2006 a brand new project was drawn up called the Triangle Development, which would have included a 75-bedroom hotel, 90 apartments, a restaurant, bar and a shopping complex.

The old Scala cinema, which was still listed and could not be removed, was going to form the heart of the development as the entrance lobby to the hotel.

Buildings around School Street, Worcester Street and Little Brickklin Street had already been demolished in preparation for the development but by 2011 the project had been shelved.

Wolverhampton council chiefs blamed the financial crisis for the collapse of the ambitious project

Around the same time, Wolverhampton council was looking into a development around Summer Row which would have bordered the Worcester Street site.

The plans included a Debenhams store, 85 shops, a cinema, underground car park, new homes, and would include the now shelved Triangle Development.

But councillors vetoed the plans because of concern over financial risk.

With plans for both the adventurous Summer Row development and Triangle project parked, Wolverhampton council bought the Worcester Street site in 2011.

It managed to get permission to bulldoze what was left of the cinema and in the same year approved plans for the Wolverhampton youth zone – funded principally by Wolves chairman Steve Morgan OBE with help from the Morgan Foundation, The Queen's Trust and St James's Place Foundation.

There were concerns over the lofty ambition of the project that it would never get off the ground and the site would remain derelict.

But The Way has quashed any criticism with hard work and dedication and the new multi-million pound development is on course to open on time in January of next year.

It has everything a young person would want and more, including a recording studio, all weather 4G pitch, gym, climbing wall and dance studio.

But it's more than the activities. The Way is looking to help bring children together and teach them independence, even at a young age.

Their slogan will be 'somewhere to go, something to do, someone to talk to'.

It will be a no parents zone and the children and teenagers will have to make their own decisions between a £1 chocolate bar or a £1 healthy meal.

The young people also have to pay 50p to get in each time, as well as a £5 membership fee per year.

Staff are hoping to address life issues with some of the older children as they get them to share their views on topics such as what they think constitutes a healthy relationship.

Mr Gough, who is one of 18 patrons, said: "I was inspired by the young people that I first met at Wigan's Youth Zone. It showed me how attending youth zones had changed their lives and how schools sometimes fails, family backgrounds are not always as successful as they might be and that the youth zone is another opportunity for these young people to meet other young people who they might not ordinarily meet in day to day life.

"Not only have you got the facilities which are first class and will not be bettered but you have a very professional backroom of permanent staff, part-time staff, volunteers and I think meeting those people will really help the children.

"The Youth Zone is a great opportunity for the young people to meet their own friends, have a good time, something worthwhile to do and meet people who can inspire them into great things in the future. That's why I got involved."

Funding for The Way has come largely down to the 18 patrons, soon to be 20 and including Wolves chairman Steve Morgan, who have made sure The Way has enough money to start up and run for the first three years.

Ambassadors for The Way include sporting legends Rachel Heyhoe-Flint and Steve Bull, and One Direction's Liam Payne was a special guest at the topping out ceremony in April.

As well as the 50p entrance fee for each child, bosses are also looking to hire the building out in the day to generate additional income.

Philippa Gregory, who is The Way's development manager, said of the patrons: "Without the patrons and without their foresight to get engaged in the project and really want to put back into the community and into the town and city where they live this project would never have worked.

The Way will include an array of activities, including a climbing wall

"What they have done is formidable really. "They're providing these opportunities for young people they might not have had had or they did have because they had a privileged background.

"They really want to help these young people and they're creating their future workforce because they don't want to be recruiting from miles away, they want local people as they understand the local need, the driving force behind the community.

"Having the foresight to engage at this early level and really wanting to invest in their young people to make them the best they can be is really a wonderful thing."

'Oh to be a kid again', this is all that was going through my mind as I was given a tour of The Way Youth Zone.

It's like nothing I've ever seen before, everything any kid could ever dream of all in one place.

I remember being a teenager was absolutely awful at times and I was crying out for a place like this where I could get away from everything and indulge in my favourite activities without the pressure of school or parents.

When I went to my local youth club I was greeted with a pool table with a ripped felt, and once a week a table tennis table would be wheeled out. Occasionally a cracker eating competition was thrown into the mix to the dismay of the club's cleaners.

This new facility has a gym, 4G all weather pitch, multi-media room, dance studio, climbing wall... the list goes on. The ripped pool table sadly fails in comparison.

But away from the activities one element of the youth club that was so key was the independence, and it was great to hear Development Manager Philippa Gregory talk about The Way continuing this tradition.

The Way will be a parent free zone – providing that separation that is crucial for children as they head towards and into their teenage years.

Parents can be very protective when it comes to letting their children out to see friends, especially at an early age, and that can cause animosity as children crave for a hint of independence.

At The Way parents can be satisfied that their children are safe and in good hands while the youngsters can have that independence and spend quality time with friends away from the classroom.

Allowing the children to make their own choices over activities they want to participate in and over whether to pay £1 for a chocolate bar or £1 for a healthy meal is a great learning curve and something that school very rarely offers.

It's also vital that these children and teenagers can pick up vital life skills away from home.I went to University with a cooking knowledge that didn't go past boiling pasta and having no idea how a washing machine worked.

It was reassuring to hear Miss Gregory confirm life skills would be addressed.

All in all this Youth Zone is a fantastic coup for the city and will have such a positive impact on children in Wolverhampton.

I'm seething with jealousy.

Miss Gregory expects around 200 young people a night will use the new centres, with evenings split into junior and senior nights, with juniors attending on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and seniors on Monday, Wednesday, Saturday.

She said: "I'm excited, I'm really excited for the opportunity that we're going to provide. I think that the team is excited as well, we're really inspired by the building and you can see how hard the construction team are working down there at the moment to bring it all together in time for the young people.

"It's great when you can take the young people on a site tour as you can see how inspired they're getting as they can see we're investing in them, we're investing in this state of the art facility that they're going to be able to use and it's going to raise their aspirations and ambitions and to see that being passed on to the next generation of young people who are going to run this city that's really exciting."

Mr Gough added: "I think it's fantastic but I know what it's going to look like, I've seen so many drawings.

"It's going absolutely to plan, the design's fantastic, the contractors have done a great job and delivered a tight site on schedule and we are only probably four or five weeks off practical completion then we have till January/middle of January until we open the doors.

"The Youth Zone is a great opportunity for the young people to meet their own friends, have a good time, something worthwhile to do and meet people who can inspire them into great things in the future. That's why I get involved.

It is hoped that for every 10 child or teenager in attendance at The Way there will be one member of staff.

Miss Gregory has said the Youth Zone will employ 50 members of staff, compiling of 19 full-time and 31 part-time. There will also be 100 volunteers.

She said: "I was actually looking on a jobs website on behalf of my brother when I saw the vacancy come up here for the development manager and I had to apply for it.

"My family are all from Wolverhampton, and when I was growing up there weren't really that many activities for us to engage in unless it was structured through school or paid for by your parents.

"A lot of families in the area can't afford that, so we are presenting an affordable option for the young people in the city to engage in activity - whether it's sport and physical activity, getting creative, or finding a route to employment.

"At the moment we're recruiting, we've got positions vacant for our facilities and catering post and we're also recruiting youth workers that are going to be delivering the activity sessions for the young people."

The Express & Star has donated office space to the project and deputy editor Diane Davies was among those on the tour of the new facilities.

She said: "The Way is going to be an absolutely fantastic facility for the young people of Wolverhampton and it is a real coup for the city.

"The Express & Star has followed and supported this great cause from the beginning and it was great to get a look inside at the progress being made.

"Despite having followed the development I was still amazed by how much will be provided on site here – and all for a 50p entrance fee.

"If anyone thinks this is just a sports centre they are very much mistaken. It is sport, leisure, health and a social centre – all in a safe environment.

"The use of this triangular piece of land is very impressive too. The architects are to be congratulated on their innovate use of the space.

"I can't wait for the big opening in January."

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.