£25m project could bring more than 700 new jobs

A multi-million pound project could bring more than 700 new jobs to Oldham, along with a whole new neighbourhood for employees and families.

Developers Langtree say they are ready to ‘fire the starting gun’ on part of a huge warehousing project in Hollinwood after securing £25m of funding.  

The firm is developing 192,000 square feet – the equivalent of 2.5 football pitches – of distribution and manufacturing space off Junction 22 of the M60. The 13 units on Albert Street at Hollinwood Junction will range from small to medium size and have their own parking spaces and service yards. 

The project is predicted to create more than 720 jobs in retail, leisure and employment sectors, according to developers.

Around 150 family homes will also be built nearby, with access off the newly-constructed Albert Street. Russell WBHO will start construction on the warehouses later this month, with the project due to be completed by July 2026. 

The warehouses are part of a larger regeneration scheme for the area, which has already seen the completion of a new Costa drive-thru, and a new Lidl store is currently under construction.

With £25m of funds now secured from industrial investors Indurent, the next phase of the scheme is now ready to go ahead.

Townhall boss councillor Arooj Shah said: “This is a major vote of confidence in Oldham, not just as an investment destination in its own right, but as a place where high-quality employers can find the workforce they need to compete across the world.”

The site was once home to a large gas holder, which was demolished in 2020. Josh Downes, executive director at Langtree, said: “It is great to return such a blighted brownfield site to productive use. It’s a prime site and we expect demand for the units to be high.”

The scheme joins something of a ‘warehouse boom’ for Oldham in the past year, which has seen several major warehousing and manufacturing projects approved. Last month, town planners greenlit a £39m mega-warehouse on Broadway Green in Chadderton. 

The ‘Aurora Park’ development off the Lydia Becker Way spine road by developers Chancerygate and Hines will create 18 units for warehousing or industrial use. The project is tipped to create around 165 new jobs, alongside 90 construction jobs.