A HISTORIC church building could become a new education and training centre for an international charity.

The Al-Khair Foundation could open up a new premises inside the Iron Church building on Blackburn Road.

The charity has an agreement in place with the owners of the church, who have submitted plans to make changes to the building.

The church building was opened in 1872, initially being made out of corrugated iron, giving it its name.

It was soon replaced by the present building, which opened in 1897 and had a very large Sunday School, with philanthropist Lord Leverhulme a major benefactor.

In 1972 the Congregational church joined with the English Presbyterian church to became a United Reformed church using the building.

The final congregation worshipped there in 1990 and the building has had a number of different uses since then, including as an antiques centre, a furniture store and, more recently, as a wedding venue.

Now the humanitarian charity, the Al-Khair Foundation says it has an agreement in place to launch its new education and training centre inside the building.

Regional manager Imran Musa said: “We currently have two small offices for our Bolton branch but neither has sufficient space for our new objectives.

“The current office in Blackburn Road is vacant due to extensive refurbishment work and we have unfortunately not been able to use the premises for some time.

“For this reason we are looking to expand to a new building to suit our needs in order to promote the inclusion of the local community in our worldwide charity projects.”

The charity plans to hold a variety of education and training courses, including English for speakers of other languages, awareness courses and training for volunteers.

It also hopes to hold a drop-in centre and provide a space for local community charity events.

Mr Musa added: “We have held numerous community events and projects in Bolton over the past six years and our aid work has been internationally recognised.

“We feel the residents of Bolton have much to offer and their generosity with their time and money has been overwhelming.”

The charity is planning to use partitions to divide up internal areas of the structure instead of doing building work and will use an existing car park in the nearby Draycott Street.

Bolton Council will now consider the application.