ECF - St Helens and Earlestown
Unlocking the future of St Helens town centre
- Public relations
- Stakeholder engagement
- Public consultation
Brief
St Helens is a borough with significant potential and is emerging as an exemplar of modern regeneration, reflecting a wider national shift from core cities to outer boroughs and satellite towns.
Decades of deindustrialisation and the High Street pressures seen across the UK have created a challenging economic backdrop, yet these same pressures have strengthened the borough’s determination to pursue long-term renewal.
So, we were tasked with helping to bring St Helens’ big ambitions to life.
Challenge
To unlock this potential, St Helens Borough Council is working with ECF – the partnership between Homes England, L&G and national place-maker Muse – on an ambitious, place-based strategy. It is focused on attracting new businesses, creating high-quality jobs, fostering innovation and building a more resilient local economy.
The first phase centres on people and place, introducing a mix of uses that set a new tone for the town centre’s future. A striking new Market Hall, high-quality town houses and a Hampton by Hilton hotel will sit alongside upgraded public spaces, improved and more sustainable transport connections. The two historic market towns in the borough – St Helens itself and Earlestown – are being reimagined as vibrant, welcoming destinations that feel unmistakable and authentic. The vision rejects generic regeneration models, instead placing local identity, heritage and character at its core.
We developed an integrated communications and engagement programme to support the Council, ECF, VINCI Building and the wider project team throughout the regeneration process. This included sustained PR and media relations activity, proactive public consultation, and ongoing stakeholder engagement to ensure residents and businesses remained informed, involved and confident as the project moved from masterplan to detailed design.
Alongside this, we worked to elevate St Helens’ profile with external audiences, securing speaking opportunities at major UK real estate conferences and coordinating an Investor Tour to showcase the scale of opportunity. A strong emphasis was placed on community engagement to ensure local voices remained central during a period of significant change.
