King gong

MAIN feature . . . the new cinema at the old town hall

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THE Oldham Town Hall regeneration project has scooped three top prizes at a prestigious awards ceremony.

More than 40 of the North-West's most impressive property schemes battled it out for top honours at the 2017 Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Awards on Friday where the £37m transformation of Oldham's delapidated old town hall into a quality family entertainment and dining destination scooped a trio of accolades including the overall Project of the Year title.

The annual RICS Awards, North-West ­- held at The Titanic hotel in Liverpool ­- celebrate inspirational initiatives in the region's land, property and construction sectors. Jason Mohammad ­- best known for presenting the BBC's Final Score football show ­- was the host for this year's ceremony. The complex scheme to convert the Grade II listed town hall into an eight-screen Odeon cinema with a contemporary restaurant complex of popular eateries won the Design through Innovation award as well as the Regeneration accolade, before being crowned the North-West's Project of the Year.

The highly acclaimed Project of the Year gong is awarded to the scheme which demonstrates overall outstanding best practice and an exemplary commitment to adding value to its local area.

RICS judges said the redevelopment of Oldham Town Hall ­- which had fallen into disrepair and was named in Britain's top-10 most endangered buildings in 2009 ­- is a highly deserving winner.

The judges praised the project team ­- BDP Architects, Mace Cost Consultancy and Morgan Sindall ­- for creating what they described as an attractive, valuable community gem, while painstakingly restoring as much of the building's original features as possible, which has safeguarded its long-term future.

Chair of the judging panel for the RICS Awards North-West, Will Rees, who is director at Rees Straw Chartered Surveyors, said: "The rebirth of Oldham Town Hall has not only created a state-of-the-art family entertainment and dining destination, it's also incorporated public realm improvements and helped to regenerate and breathe new life into the town centre.

"Overall, the project is an exemplar public/private sector partnership with an innovative and quality approach to property regeneration. The team behind it should rightly be very proud.

"Despite the ongoing skills shortages in the construction industry, every year our region's professionals continue to deliver world-class built projects.

"This just goes to show that the North-West has some of the most remarkable skilled property professionals and surveyors, who together are attracting significant investment into the region and helping our towns and cities prosper."

Helen Lockwood, executive director of economy, skills and neighbourhoods at Oldham Council, said: "We are absolutely delighted to win these prestigious awards. We always knew that the old town hall was something special, so to be recognised by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors is fantastic news.

"The original building dates back to 1841 and is a very important part of Oldham's proud past.

"In 2009, the old town hall was declared one of the UK's Top Ten Buildings at Risk by the Victorian Society after being vacant since 1995.

"This was not good enough, so we decided to make it become a big part of our future.

"The extensive renovation works saw the finest of the surviving rooms in the building restored. The stunning lightbox illuminates Parliament Square at night and can be seen for miles around.

"Many of the cinema screens are in the original rooms and ­­- with the added modern features ­­- this bold contrast between the old and the new gives Oldham's town centre something truly unique."

All category winners will go on to compete against other regional winners at the national RICS Awards Grand Final on November 2 in London.