The project is a collaboration between the Oldham Coliseum Theatre and the Arts & Heritage Services of Oldham Council.

Plans for the Union Street site were approved late last year and will involved building a new Coliseum Theatre connected to an existing grade II listed former library building.

The works schedule sees the former Oldham library in Union Street become a heritage centre. This would be followed by the conversion and commercial development of the local studies library and museum buildings for new uses, before the third phase added a new Coliseum Theatre.

The new-build theatre will include 550-seat and a 100-seat performance spaces while the heritage centre will tell the story of Oldham’s past with gallery spaces, archives, public research rooms, bars, and meeting spaces.

The heritage and cultural centre has been designed by Dutch architect Mecanoo with Curtin the structural engineer and Gardiner Theobald cost consultant.

New theatre

How the converted former library will look