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Calderstones Mansion House

Written by Lizzie Cain, 11th January 2013

The Reader Organisation is delighted to announce that we have been awarded 'preferred bidder status' for Calderstones Mansion House, in Calderstones Park, by Liverpool City Council.

Cslderstones Mansion House (c.Dave Jones)

Calderstones Mansion House (c.Dave Jones)

We will transform the Mansion House, Coach House and Stable Yard into an International Centre for Reading and Wellbeing at Calderstones, working with three key local partners, Mersey Care NHS Trust, Plus Dane Group and the University of Liverpool's CRILS (Centre for Research into Reading, Information and Linguistic Systems).Jane Davis, our founder and director, explains:

Our vision for Calderstones is a community for everyone, with reading at its heart. We will ask people what they want and need and then connect them with it.  We think that at Calderstones we have the perfect location to make this a regeneration success story for our city.

The restored buildings will create a beautiful facility for local people, yet at the same time connect us to international visitors.

At Calderstones we will all connect.

We share Liverpool City Council’s vision of Liverpool being ‘equal, well and green’ by 2020. Our proposal respects the heritage of the beautiful Grade II status buildings, the character of the surrounding Calderstones Park and the views of local people, whilst creating a sustainable social enterprise that will change people’s lives.

With reading firmly at its heart, we will:

  • Hugely improve the offer to park users with a superb bistro, conference, events and training facilities, gardens, gallery and shop;
  • Establish an international hub for shared reading practice, training and academic research;
  • Support local community groups and community entrepreneurs through the provision of meeting rooms, activities and workshop studios;
  • Reach some of the most vulnerable people in our society, creating aspiration and opportunities for personal development;
  • Create jobs and provide volunteering, mentoring, apprenticeship and employment opportunities to service users and local graduates;
  • Consult the local community on their views and ideas.

Liverpool Councillor Malcolm Kennedy, cabinet member for Regeneration said today:

I’m delighted that we have appointed The Reader Organisation to take over the Mansion House. They are a strong organisation with an excellent track record of growing their charity year-on-year.

There was a good deal of interest in the building, and we considered all the proposals carefully. We chose The Reader Organisation because we were impressed by what was a very strong bid. They have some fantastic ideas which we believe will not only bring the building back into use in a meaningful way but will help protect its future.

Davis and Kennedy

Jane and Cllr Kennedy

Here at The Reader Organisation, we have substantial experience of successfully creating new products and managing projects. Since 2008, we've more than doubled the income generated by our social enterprise activity, increased our staff numbers by over 200%, and increased our Get Into Reading provision by nearly 300%.

We're now rolling our sleeves up to enter a six month planning period with our partners and consultants, Cass Associates (architects) and Pulse Regeneration, before taking up residency in Calderstones this coming August; we will also be keeping our current home in West Everton. Development of the full International Centre for Reading and Wellbeing will take place in phases and is expected to be completed in December 2015.

We're thrilled about this local, national, and international opportunity to share reading and connect with communities in Liverpool and beyond. You can follow our progress right here on the blog as we continue to build the Reading Revolution!

 

15 thoughts on “Calderstones Mansion House

Jane Sander says:

That’s the best news this year! Terrific use of a beautiful location.

lynn glyn says:

how amazing, congratulations !

Carole Herman says:

How wonderful…and how far The Reader Organisation has come.

[…] – lots and lots of poetry. With big things ahead in the future – our plans to transform Calderstones Mansion House into an International Centre for Reading and Wellbeing being just one – we certainly have a lot to think about and plan […]

Roy Montrose says:

All sounds very good, let’s hope it all comes to fruition and the people of Liverpool benefit from it.

[…] this year we were proud to announce that Liverpool City Council had awarded us ‘preferred bidder status’ for Calderstones […]

[…] this year we were proud to announce that Liverpool City Council had awarded us ‘preferred bidder status’ for Calderstones Mansion […]

[…] Residential spaces, workshop spaces, dreaming places. All to be fundraised for, all to be worked on and made real over the next few years. But all on the way, now the Mansion House has come back to […]

[…] On Friday and Saturday just gone, the doors to the historic Mansion House in Calderstones Park were opened to the public for the first time in forty years as The Reader Organisation unveiled the beautiful building and the beginnings of our vision for what will be The International Centre of Reading and Wellbeing at Calderstones. […]

[…] Jane Davis, founder and director of The Reader Organisation, will also share our vision for The International Centre for Reading and Wellbeing at Calderstones Mansion House. […]

[…] month, we opened the doors to Calderstones Mansion House, revealing our vision for what will become The International Centre of Reading and Wellbeing to the community. It was wonderful to share reading – and cake – with lots of visitors, […]

[…] future is already looking bright for The Reader Organisation, with our plans to develop The International Centre for Reading and Wellbeing at Calderstones, and being part of the Big Venture Challenge will build more opportunities for us to reach the […]

[…] There was lots to consider about the current, ongoing impact of shared reading – but that didn’t stop us from finishing the day by looking to the future, and considering where precisely the model could be in ten years time. Nationally and internationally renowned? Taken out into the realm of technology? Translated into hundreds of languages? Lots of exciting things to consider against the backdrop of The International Centre for Reading and Wellbeing at Calderstones. […]

[…] City council awarded us ‘preferred bidder status’ for the Calderstones Mansion House buildings by in January of this year and we’re in the first stages of regenerating it into a […]

[…] year got off to an incredible start as TRO was awarded preferred bidder status for Calderstones Mansion House, Coach House and Stable Yard at Calderstones P…. Our vision for Calderstones is a community for everyone with reading at its heart, and we’re […]

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