Work on the grounds is set to begin at the Bacup Campus in August 2026 after Rossendale Digital CIC secured a new funding package worth more than £30,000 for the next phase of the project.
Supported by grant funding from Lancashire Environmental Fund and match funding from Rossendale Digital CIC, the work will improve access to the historic Christ Church building and begin the transformation of its grounds into an accessible community space.
The project marks another important step in the phased development of Rossendale Digital Bacup Campus, the home of Rossendale’s first digital and technology hub.
Keeping Christ Church Open To The Community
Although Christ Church is being developed as a centre for digital businesses, skills and enterprise, the vision has never been to turn it into a private office building closed to the wider community.
The landscaping and access plans align with the existing planning permission for Christ Church, which includes community use and the creation of an external community space within the grounds.
The new paths and improved entrance will help local people continue to access Christ Church as it begins its next chapter.
Hannah Weinhold of Rossendale Digital CIC said:
“Christ Church has always been a community building and we want it to remain somewhere local people feel able to visit and use.
“Whilst Christ Church is the home of Rossendale’s first digital and technology hub, that does not mean closing its doors to the wider community. Our long-term vision brings together businesses, digital skills, education and community activity within one historic building.
“This funding allows us to improve access, begin work on the grounds and take another visible step towards that vision.”
Work Beginning In August 2026
The first stages of the work in the grounds of the digital and tech hub are due to begin during August and will create a new accessible route from Keswick Road to the main entrance of Christ Church.
Plans include clearing overgrown areas, creating a new entrance from Keswick Road, constructing an access ramp and resurfacing the principal route into the building.
Paths around the church will also be improved, providing better access to the campus offices and connecting the building with the existing entrance from Beech Street.
The immediate priority is to make Bacup Campus safer, more welcoming and easier to reach for businesses, community organisations, learners and visitors.
Helmrig is developing the programme for the work with its groundworks and arboricultural teams.
Dave Gallagher of Helmrig said:
“The priority is the main construction work needed to provide good access to the building. The scheme allows us to create the access ramp, tarmac the main route from Keswick Road and improve the remaining paths.
“Further landscaping elements will also be included to create the external community space a building, operation and the community around it deserves.”
Creating A Community Space At Christ Church
The work beginning in August will provide the access and essential infrastructure needed to support the future development of the grounds and ensure greater accessibility to the digital and technology businesses using the building.
The scheme will include some seating, planting and landscaping; however, further improvements will be introduced progressively, allowing the outside space to grow and mature as the Bacup Campus develops.
The aim is to create an attractive and welcoming respite garden where people using the campus and members of the wider community can meet, take a break and spend time outside.
This will complement the working, learning and community facilities being created within Christ Church.
Lancashire Environmental Fund is supporting this phase of the project following approval from Entrust.
Elizabeth Morgan, Fund Manager at Lancashire Environmental Fund, said:
“I’m delighted that, following Entrust approval, Lancashire Environmental Fund has been able to support the community garden project at Christ Church in Bacup.
“The project will improve access to this important local building and help create an outdoor community space as Christ Church’s role as Rossendale’s first digital and technology hub is further solidified.”
Rossendale’s First Digital And Technology Hub
Christ Church is being brought back into use as the flagship campus of Rossendale Digital and the anchor for a wider network of digital spaces, businesses and opportunities across the valley that support the borough’s digital community.
Rossendale’s digital hub is a home for digital businesses, freelancers, entrepreneurs, training providers and community organisations, alongside coworking, meeting, learning and creative facilities.
As the hub develops, it will support collaboration between businesses, educators and community partners whilst helping more people access digital skills and opportunities within the valley.
The Bacup-based digital and technology centre is being delivered in phases, allowing for parts of the building and grounds to become useful whilst the wider restoration of Christ Church continues.
This approach means the Rossendale digital technology hub can begin serving local people, businesses and organisations long before every element of the building’s redevelopment is complete.
A New Chapter For Christ Church
Built in the 1850s, Christ Church served generations of Bacup residents before holding its final service in 2012.
The notion of creating a space in Rossendale for digital and technology businesses dates back over a decade but really started to come to life in 2019 when the Church of England accepted an offer on the building to turn it into offices for digitally-orientated businesses.
The vision for Christ Church received the backing of the Rt Revd Dr David Walker, Bishop of Manchester. Supporting its proposed use as a hub for digital businesses, he said the building would “not only provide new employment opportunities but will also make available some communal areas for community purposes”. He described it as a proposal “worthy of the Commissioners’ support”.
That combination of digital enterprise, heritage and community use remains at the heart of the project. The improvements to the grounds will build on the original vision by making Christ Church more accessible and creating an outdoor space that can be used by businesses, learners, community organisations, and local people who visit the campus.
Rather than waiting for one enormous redevelopment to be completed, Bacup Campus is being brought back into use through a series of achievable phases. Each phase makes another part of the building or grounds usable whilst contributing towards the larger vision.
The work beginning in August represents investment in an important Bacup heritage building, improved access for the people who will use it and a commitment to keeping Christ Church connected to its community as the Rossendale Digital Hub develops.
