The Salvation Army has announced it no longer has plans to renovate and then return to its citadel in Lord Street, Douglas.

Instead it will be moving into new premises in Braddan.

An agreement has been made to move its church and community centre into the former British Red Cross headquarters building at the Isle of Man Business Park.

Lieutenant Dylan Nieuwoudt of the island’s Salvation Army said: ’At the start of this new year, we can share the exciting news that we have entered into a formal agreement with the British Red Cross to acquire their headquarters building situated on the Isle of Man Business Park as new premises for our Douglas church and community centre.

’We want to thank the local community for their tremendous support, especially over Christmas; we simply could not serve the people we do without the exceptional generosity of their individual giving.

’We remain committed to serving those in need and will continue to operate out of our current premises of Fairfield School, located on Tynwald Street, whilst we develop our mission plans on the island.’

In 2017, the charity announced it was moving into temporary premises at the former Fairfield Primary School on Tynwald Street, Douglas, while the citadel was demolished and replaced with a purpose-built facility.

The Salvation Army has been serving the Manx community for 136 years and for 86 years it has been stationed at the citadel on Lord Street, which it owns. However, the building was deemed ’no longer fit for purpose’.

The Salvation Army is an international Christian church and registered charity which has been working for more than 150 years. It operates in 131 countries.