- Newly redeveloped building unveiled in St Helier
- Parish project praised
- New facilities opened to the public
WITH their glowing green lights, stone floor and brushed metalwork you may be forgiven for thinking that this is Jersey’s hippest new club – or perhaps even a futuristic cryogenic freezing chamber.
In fact, these are the latest public toilets to be unveiled in St Helier.
They form part of a redeveloped site on Conway Street that has been named La Bantchette.
It contains ground-floor public toilets – three male, three female and one for wheelchair users – a kiosk and two floors of offices.
The project was approved by parishioners in 2013. Its kiosk is in the process of being let and the office space is understood to have been leased by the construction firm Style Group.
Redeveloping the site cost around £1 million, but Mr Crowcroft said that rental income from the offices and kiosk will return £25,000 per year.
He added: ‘I don’t think anybody would deny it was an expensive scheme, but before when the block was just a toilet it didn’t generate any income.
‘When I opened the facility I was really impressed.
‘The site, if people remember, was extremely ugly – it was an eyesore. There was a café there with wooden trusses above it that were shoring up the neighbouring building. It was an ugly gap site in one of the principle gateways to St Helier.’
Mr Crowcroft said the parish had already received a lot of positive feedback after scaffolding around the building was removed.
The facilities include a large ground-floor toilet for disabled users and six public toilets – three male and three female – inside, which will be open 24 hours a day.
The toilets have a lighting system to let people know which stalls are free – a green light shows a vacancy and red means that a unit is occupied.
‘We’re really pleased with the whole development,’ Mr Crowcroft added.
‘I’m sure the toilets will be well used in the evenings. We will be installing CCTV cameras in the main public area to discourage antisocial behaviour.
‘The offices above have got wonderful views down the street to Liberation Square. The kiosk will be very handy for people and is going to sell a variety of things. There are more than one million trips per year through Conway Street, so it is a busy area.’
Following the opening of the new building, Jersey’s L’Office du Jèrriais tweeted about the event:
