I wonder why they did that in the first place. Do you want the extra expense to move the plumbing?

Get rid of those and install a thermostatic valve with volume and temperature controls.

I would center the control. The shower was probably done this way because of how the studs are in the wall. That 2 handle faucet has a rough in in behind it so it has to be in between studs. New faucets are just 1 handle so should be easy enough to get centered or close to center.

Good luck!

If you are starting from scratch and can get what you want,

get a single lever faucet.

funny, my husband and I are discussing this for ourselves...

food for thought. We stayed at a great hotel recently that had the control lever away from the shower head, easy to adjust out of the way of the water flow...

Created a discussion about how we use the shower, turns out 40+ years with my husband and we don't use the shower the same, I turn on the shower once I am IN the shower, he turns on before and walks into already running water.

Best ideas:

- Choose a one-piece water control ... as flat as possible since your space is small.

- Place the control near the shower door so it's easy to reach /not under the shower head.

- Do you have any option for expanding this shower size? An adjacent closet? While you're re-doing the bathroom, it'd be nice to grow the shower beyond summer-camp size.

- While you're at it, add at least one vertical grab bar by the shower entrance. I wouldn't add horizontal bars because they'd take up too much room in this already-small shower.

- Add a large recessed niche for storage.

Centre them.