An iconic vacant church building in Oswestry is in the process of becoming the headquarters of a thriving IT software and consulting company – which could soon be expanding.

The building in Market Gate has been previously run as a gym and is now being refurbished as the headquarters of Bluestonex Consulting Ltd.

The company, which helps to create innovative software for large firms, has already moved into its new premises from its previous base at Park Hall.

Dan Barton from Bluestonex said:

“We have completed Phase 1 of the refurbishment concentrating on the ground floor, now we are moving onto phase two which focusses on the upper floor. The ground floor offices will be leased and the meeting room is available to hire on an hourly basis”.

“We have three remaining offices to lease out, these are made up of one five-person office, a two to three-person office and a one to two person office. They are available for viewing on the ground floor and finished to a high standard with furniture & all services included in the price”.

“The phase two First Floor will be open with hot desks and additional meeting rooms by next summer and we plan to start renovation in March ‘18. There are a few things we need to sort out with possible planning applications if we go for some additional window lights”.

“We are a design and innovation company and this is a great old building with plenty of open space. We believe this could be the new business and innovation centre for Oswestry. It is certainly the perfect site for what we do with our software and consulting practices – space, light and a mixture of old and new aesthetics.

“It is a great location too, we want to bring people back into Oswestry town centre and employ local people here”

“We hope it will be a busy, thriving building with lots going on – different small businesses all looking to give a professional appearance”

The firm, which creates and designs interfaces for SAP enterprise software for companies such as Arla foods and Princes foods, is five years old and has around 20 employees both in Shropshire and at their office in India.

“We are trying to break new boundaries in the software industry,” Dan added.

“The objective was to have a large design office for us and for our customers to visit – and that is just what the first-floor space gives us”

The building was let by Halls Commercial and bosses said they were pleased it ticked a number of boxes for the directors of Bluestonex.

Rebecca Welch, from Halls, said: “This is a very prominent building on the way in to Oswestry. It provides much-needed office space for the town – something which is limited and in great demand. This could turn out to be the business hub of Oswestry.

“As a converted church it is a remarkable premises to run a business from and everyone in the town knew it as a Bodytech Health and Fitness Club.

“We are pleased they were attracted to the building’s size, layout and architectural features.

“We are impressed with the designs that Bluestonex have for the building and pleased they could see the potential.

“It is not often a building like this comes on the market, especially in such a central location.

“We feel matching this forward thinking firm to this unique property has been a huge success and hope they have many years building their company here.”