First Look at new town hall

One of Oldham’s beautiful old buildings has been saved from ruin – and transformed into the borough’s brand new town hall. 

The Old Library off Union Street was closed down in 2017 due to its deteriorating condition. But after two years of ‘painstaking’ restoration work, the almost 150-year-old building will soon open its doors to the public. 

The Local Democracy Reporting Service received an exclusive peek at the nearly-completed renovations. The grand sand-coloured walls of the Grade II listed site are a world away from Oldham’s concrete-clad Civic Centre on West Street. And project managers at Tilbury Douglas say they’ve ‘kept as many original features as physically possible’. 

Visitors enter via an impressive foyer with a glass-walled lift that travels up the centre of the three-storey atrium. The three floors of the Old Library are now split into different civic uses. 

A room on the ground floor, fitted with a full stage and lighting rigs, will become the brand new home for the Oldham Theatre Workshop. The local arts organisation for young people, whose alumni include Doctor Who’s Millie Gibson, musician Seb Lowe and Waterloo Road’s Noah Valentine, will carry out rehearsals and events here, including offering SEND support. 

Councillors will move into brand new, frosted-glass offices on the first floor, which also features the mayor’s lounge. The council leader’s and executives offices feature original stained glass designs, alongside well-disguised modern tech, which include sound-proofed walls and ceilings and imposing security doors. 

But the main event will take place on the Old Lib’s top floor. Here, double-winged doors open dramatically onto the brand new townhall chamber. Dark wood cladding encloses the semi-circular council benches. The space is slightly smaller than the current townhall, with a more modest public gallery, but there is a new overflow room next to the council chambers for busier days. 

There’s also a new gallery space on the top floor, where items from Oldham’s archive will be displayed. 

The multi-million pound project is a lavish upgrade from the brutalist-style venue on West Street – and is making use of a building that may otherwise have been lost. The library’s roof was apparently on the verge of collapse when works first began – with beams at breaking point and water flowing down the main stairs. 

Speaking to the LDRS, townhall boss Arooj Shah said: “There’s projects that you have to make a financial case for, and then there’s projects that are really about instilling civic pride in people – letting people know that they are cared and thought about. 

“For so many years people identified this derelict building with failure and neglect. Actually bringing it back into use, not just as the heart of democracy, but for all residents to use is just incredible. 

“These buildings aren’t just bricks and mortar, they’ve been reinvented and reimagined while respecting all the memories of this place. We’ve brought a history that we’re so proud of into the future.”

The Old Library will be open to the public for the first time on August 16 for a community launch, where its new name – after a ‘working class hero’ – will be revealed. Councillors are expected to move into the new space by September.