Work to build a new environmentally friendly depot in Alexandra Park is progressing well, with the steel frame now built and the roof going on.
When complete, the building will be a new home for Oldham Council’s environmental services and will also be open to the community with space for events and meetings.
Oldham Council Leader Amanda Chadderton said: “Alexandra Park is one of Oldham’s most beautiful places and we are delighted to be enhancing it further for residents with this great new building.
“The new depot will provide a modern base for our colleagues, who do a brilliant job looking after the borough’s parks, gardens, playgrounds and keeping our streets clean.
“It will also have adjoining meeting rooms and double height space for seminars, conferences and other events.
“It’s great to see everything taking shape and we look forward to welcoming colleagues and the community in soon.”
The new depot will boost Oldham Council’s commitment to being the greenest borough in Greater Manchester. It will include an air source heat pump to provide sustainable heat and hot water as well as solar panels for clean energy.
Its construction is the first phase of a wider vision to create an Eco Centre at Alexandra Park, with the new building an anchor development to Northern Roots – the UK’s largest urban farm which is being created on 160 acres of adjacent land at Snipe Clough. We’ll be working closely with the Northern Roots team to develop a range of related activities and opportunities for local people at the depot.
It is being built by Whitfield & Brown and is expected to be complete in spring 2023 when it is home to over 200 staff – who at the moment are spread over several buildings throughout the park. The main office is currently the former Gardener’s Lodge, but the building is becoming increasingly dilapidated.
As well as providing new space for the community and council staff, it will also boost our ongoing partnership with Oldham College – giving apprentices an improved training centre to learn horticultural skills.
Cllr Abdul Jabbar, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and Low Carbon, said: “We were the first local authority in the country to become a Green New Deal council – a commitment to becoming carbon neutral as a council by 2025 and as a borough by 2030.
“Projects like the new depot will play an important role in this goal while benefiting the environment, our residents and our staff. It’s exciting to see the building coming to life.”
