Housing association plans new Oldham HQ

FIRST Choice Homes Oldham (FCHO) is planning to build new headquarters in the town for its 450 staff.

Oldham Council agreed the sale of the land between Union Street and Phoenix Street at a cabinet meeting on Monday.

The site is currently occupied by a single-storey building and a car park.

FCHO, took over the ownership and management of Oldham Council’s social housing stock of around 12,000 homes in 2011, wants to build a three-storey, 35,000 sq ft office building.

Council leader Jim McMahon said: “This is an excellent regeneration scheme and it will breathe new life into an important town centre site.”

“FCHO is a crucial partner for Oldham Council. We’ve long shared their aspirations to have a purpose-built headquarters and are delighted to be working with them to deliver this development.”

FCHO’s chief executive Cath Green said: “As Oldham’s largest housing association, and one of the largest local employers, we recognise our responsibility to create economic opportunities in Oldham and do what we can to help the local economy.

“Our new flagship location on Union Street will not only provide an attractive space for employees, with fantastic transport links, but having the majority of our 450 staff in one location will mean increased visitors to the town centre who will be spending locally too.”

Designs for the block have been drawn up by Manchester architect 5plus. Director Phil Doyle said: “Our brief was to design a new landmark for Oldham that will help inspire further regeneration. This building sets new standards of design for the town and matches the ambition of FCHO not only for their own staff but for their customers.

“It is highly engineered to be incredibly energy-efficient and cheap to run. As well as being a beautiful space the glass atrium allows maximum daylight and helps ventilation and on top of the building is a green roof which encourages biodiversity.”