There are massive changes coming to Oldham borough next year.
Oldham is changing. Major developments across the Greater Manchester borough are making rapid progress.
And once they’re completed, they could transform the face of Oldham forever.
Much of 2025 has been marked by high-profile delays to major regen projects – from the Coliseum theatre to Oldham’s new market space, which was due to replace the Tommyfield Market this autumn. But several other developments are on track to bring massive change to the borough.
These include more than 330 new homes due to be built at Prince’s Gate in Mumps, with the help of a £32m pot of GMCA cash. Two massive warehousing projects – worth a combined £60m – promise to create around 1,000 new jobs throughout 2026.
Not to mention the multimillion pound SportsTown project, transforming the football club at Boundary Park into a multi-sport tourist attraction and sports academy.
Oldham is upping its green space game as well, from the new Tommyfield Park steadily advancing through the town centre, to new additions at Northern Roots, the UK’s biggest urban farm, in Alexandra Park.
Here’s a list of all the most significant schemes due to make an impact on the borough in 2026:
A new landmark at the gateway to Oldham
An eleven storey building will replace the demolished Riley’s Snooker parlour, once a major landmark at the entrance to the town centre from Oldham Kings Street. While the theatre is rumoured to have once hosted The Beatles, it had fallen into a state of disrepair by the time it was bulldozed in November this year.
Now it will be replaced by what will become one of the tallest buildings in the town, due to hold 120 apartments over a staggered six, nine and eleven-floor structure.
The designs by architects Footprint Design feature a mixture of 75 one-beds, 43 two-beds, and two three-bedroom flats, including a total of 11 accessible apartments directly opposite the lifts. The ground floor will also contain six shops and two private entrance lobbies with concierge desks, according to the plans.
Demolition works have already been completed, with construction expected to start imminently.
Hundreds of new homes at Prince’s Gate, Mumps
Works are already underway to transform a former car park in Mumps, just east of Oldham town centre, into three blocks with 331 homes. These include 75 apartments for social rent and 256 build-to-rent homes.
GMCA is backing the project with an injection of £31.5 million as part of the Greater Manchester Good Growth Fund.
Investigative works started on the site in August this year, with construction tipped to begin next year.
When they start, the works will end a decade-long saga afflicting the Prince’s Gate site. The townhall-owned land was due to be turned into an M&S warehouse and later a Lidl store and hotel – but both deals ultimately fell through.
New types of green spaces in the town centre and Alexandra Park
Works are progressing on a leafy new route through the town centre. A six acre park is being developed between St Mary’s Way and Henshaw Street.
The green space is named Tommyfield Park, after Oldham’s 230-year-old market which is due to be replaced by a new market hall sometime next year.
Parts of the project have been completed, with pockets of improved greens starting at Rock Street. But once the market has moved, a further portion of land is due to be transformed into a landscaped community space.
Progress is also being made at Northern Roots in Alexandra Park, where a new visitor centre with a cafe, forestry skills centre and urban farm are due to be completed in 2026.
The £70m SportsTown, Boundary Park
Works are also underway at Boundary Park Football grounds, where there are plans to create a multi-discipline stadium and sports academy.
The ‘Little Wembley’ training pitch for the junior team is already being replaced. But the next steps of a masterplan that could ‘bring 25,000 visitors a week to Oldham’ are reportedly in the works.
These include expanding the grounds with new pitches, netball courts, improved cricket facilities, an education centre and – eventually – a 3,000-seat sporting arena for netball, basketball and wheelchair rugby.
Darren Royle, CEO of Oldham Athletic and SportsTown, said: “Our dream is to have an arena here.”
Oldham Coliseum – the ‘jewel in Oldham’s crown’
The Oldham Coliseum was due to open ‘in time for Panto 2025’. But in June the council announced the opening needed to be postponed.
Construction workers discovered the £10m works would be ‘more involved and complex’ than expected, with extensive asbestos removal and changes to the internal layout of the theatre slowing down progress.
It will mean the theatre will reach the third year anniversary since its closure in March next year.
The Council has refused to put a new date on the opening, fearing further backlash from the public. But there are hopes the theatre will relaunch in 2026.
In the meantime, the local authority has made use of a £1m regeneration fund to help buy Harry’s Bar, a former pub on the corner of Fairbottom St and Yorkshire St. The building was listed on a commercial property website for £470k, but has apparently been bought for under the asking price.
It plans to turn Harry’s Bar into a ‘welcoming town square’, box office, or hospitality venue to complement the Coliseum.
£60m worth of warehouses and almost 1,000 jobs
Two massive warehouses are due to be completed in Oldham in 2026, bringing a total of almost 1,000 jobs into the borough.
Industrial developers Langtree are turning Hollinwood Junction into 192,000 sq ft of new warehousing and manufacturing space – the size of around three football fields. The 13 units next to Junction 22 of the M60 is the biggest phase of a multi-million pound project to turn the area into a manufacturing hub expected to deliver more than 720 jobs.
The plans also include new homes, shops and leisure facilities and is expected to be completed by July 2026.
Meanwhile, the £39m Aurora Park in Chadderton is a complex with 18 industrial units at Broadway Green on the Lydia Becker Way spine road. Also due to be completed in the summer, developers Chancergate claim the project will create around 165 full-time jobs, as well as 90 construction jobs during the build.
