The Gallery Oldham

What?

• Gallery Oldham is a free-to-view public art gallery situated in the Cultural Quarter of central Oldham, in Greater Manchester
• The art gallery, designed by architects Pringle Richards Sharratt and opened in 2002, is a state-of-the-art building which has brought about an integration of the once separate local museum and gallery services
• Designed as a landmark building, the architects state that “the scale, presence and repetitive structure evokes the mills and sheds of Oldham's industrial past”
• Incorporating Oldham's extensive art, social and natural history collections alongside touring work, newly commissioned and contemporary art, the gallery also holds the civic collection of Oldham and much of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Oldham. Past exhibits have included works by Picasso and Lowry

When?

• Gallery Oldham was opened in February 2002, three years after designers were first appointed to draw up plans in 1999

• The gallery was originally conceived as the first phase in the development of the new Cultural Quarter in Oldham. This was the planned construction of a dynamic and ambitious new area in Oldham, intended to regenerate Oldham’s Union Street, and dedicated to providing new arts, cultural and learning facilities
• In 1999, Pringle Richards Sharratt was appointed to design Gallery Oldham. The philosophy was to establish a strong sense of place, with a key component of this seen as establishing clear linkages between the proposed Cultural Quarter and the existing Town Centre. Surrounding open spaces were seen as “the common thread that binds the quarter together”
• Throughout the building’s design development Oldham Borough Council commissioned a number of artists to work with the design team, with the final building featuring work by artists inside and outside the building
• With £9 million of funding from Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council and the European Regional Development Fund the Gallery was completed and opened to viewing in February 2002

• Gallery Oldham has provided greatly improved facilities for the Gallery Service and has become an integral part of the regeneration project in Oldham, effectively kicking off Oldham’s ambitious Cultural Quarter development
• Positioned between residential areas and the town centre, the Gallery has engaged the local community and regularly combines international art with work produced by local communities
• With visitors to the gallery steadily increasing to approximately 3000 a month, the Gallery has reached out to different communities
• In addition to the benefits seen to the local community, the building itself has won awards from the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Civic Trust