Published: Monday, 10th October 2022
Our redevelopment of the Spindles shopping centre has taken another step forward this week, as council staff moved into the first phase of new offices located on the upper mall.
We’re repurposing the shopping centre to create a 450,000 sq ft development that will be home to a new space for Tommyfield Market, a Food Court, an event space, a heritage archive, offices and co-working space for businesses.
Following extensive works to the previous shop units on the upper mall, the new Council office is now open and will see various council and partner teams trial the space over the coming months.
The next phase will see further office accommodation being created that incorporates the previous Debenhams unit.
Once phase two is complete, we will be relocating Council staff predominantly from within the Civic Centre and some partner agencies into the space. This will release sites including the Civic Centre for redevelopment whilst also saving money and reducing the Council’s carbon footprint.
The Leader of the Council, Councillor Amanda Chadderton, visited the new offices with her Cabinet members and Oldham Mayor, Councillor Elaine Garry, this week to speak to staff and see how they were settling in.
Councillor Chadderton said: “It's great to see our redevelopment of the Spindles taking this significant step forward. We've been talking about these works for such a long time, but now the new offices are here, are open, and are already breathing new life into the shopping centre.
“This is a huge milestone in the Creating A Better Place project. And residents and visitors will soon start to see lots more positive changes taking place as we reshape and strengthen the Spindles and Town Centre for the future.
“We’re continuing to work hard to attract new businesses and improve visitor experience by consolidating the retail area to make it easier to shop and get around.
“We’ve also listened to residents as part of the Big Oldham Conversation and as a result, are looking to improve the accessibility in Spindles.
“The shopping centre will remain open as normal throughout the next phase of works and we will do our very best to keep disruption to a minimum while these redevelopment works progress.”
The Spindles redevelopment is part of the larger Creating a Better Place regeneration programme, with projects including bringing the Old Library back into public use, building new homes at the former Oldham Mumps Railway Station and investing in the new Brian Clarke Academy at the old Sainsbury’s site.
More information on our town centre's regeneration can be found online at www.oldham.gov.uk/towncentre, where you can also watch our 'fly through' video of the plans.
A short video of the office space can be viewed on Oldham Council's Youtube Channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54UyRAyTX9c