LIVEWIRE and Culture Warrington’s new managing director Emma Hutchinson has spoken about her plans to shape the leisure and cultural offer in town.
Emma, aged 36, took up the post this week following the retirement of Jan Souness, who led the companies from their formation in 2012.
Emma said: “I am very excited and immensely proud to be taking on this role which will lead both companies through their new business plans.
“LiveWire and Culture Warrington have made a huge difference to the people of Warrington over the last four years and have put the town on the map in terms of its leisure and cultural offerings.
“I look forward to building on the great work carried out by Jan Souness and embracing exciting new opportunities that lie ahead.”
Emma brings with her a wealth of experience in the two sectors and both companies. She held the post of Cultural Director at Culture Warrington during most of 2015 and has also played an integral part in the development of the two companies.
The Business Studies graduate joined the Senior Management Team as Business Development Director in May 2012 when the organisations were formed following the transfer of the services from Warrington Borough Council.
She has contributed fully to the high level of success experienced across both companies over the years by leading, planning and managing all business development activities.
She added: “This is an exciting time for both LiveWire and Culture Warrington with a range of different projects in the pipeline which will expand our delivery across the town.
“LiveWire has plans to develop a number of neighbourhood hubs in different areas. They will provide an integrated offer of leisure, library and lifestyle services all under one roof, a model which we’ve seen has already proved to be very successful in Orford and Woolston.
“Culture Warrington has ambitious plans to create a Heritage Hub in the existing Warrington Central Library building when the lending library expands its offer into the heart of the town centre later this year. Not only will the Heritage Hub provide more opportunities for residents to explore the history of the town, it will also act as a base for outreach activities that we plan to deliver in local communities as well as linking to LiveWire hubs in individual neighbourhoods.”
Emma will continue to work closely with retired managing director Jan Souness, who has taken on the part-time position of Transformation Projects Strategic Advisor to provide strategic support on key projects two days a week.
1 Comment
Quote from the above article……….“Culture Warrington has ambitious plans to create a Heritage Hub in the existing Warrington Central Library building when the lending library expands its offer into the heart of the town centre later this year………”
Wouldn’t it be more effective to have a ‘Heritage Hub’ in the heart of the town centre?
The plans for converting the existing library building are horrific and will totally destroy the very beautiful interior as well as slamming a glass slug on the outside wall. Strange that an organisation supposedly run to enhance culture and heritage should be planning the destruction of this beautiful old building.
I think a more suitable use would to be to retain it as a local history library. Instead of our local history being archived in Chester it could be brought back to Warrington where it would be easier to access.
We have lost enough of Warrington’s beautiful heritage buildings, very soon all that will be left is digitised images of what once was.
The library is a well loved building so I don’t think trashing it will be a popular idea. When is this ‘public benefit’ company going to hold a public consultation re these ‘ambitious plans’?