January 2007

After some initial preparation work during December 2006, Armitage Construction moved onsite during January 2007. During January they proceeded to secure the site in preparation for the conversion process. The conversion was expected to take approximately 26 weeks and is expected to be completed for July 2007.
In January, Armitage began to remove the existing partition walls and ceilings. The floor within the church will be lowered by approximately 6ft to allow for the structural steelwork to enable the centre to have 3 storeys once complete. At the front and side of the building Armitage began to level out the area which will be used for car parking once the conversion process is completed.

Press interest
To help publicise this project the local and regional media were sent press releases detailing the project.
Clive and Linda Davies; Claire Duggan and Katie Greaves conducted a number of interviews during late January / early February.
Each article featured details on Focus Education, what the company did; how long it had been established and how Talking Point had developed. An initial story on Talking Point was featured in The Oldham Chronicle, The Oldham Advertiser and The Manchester Evening News.