First tenants secured at Ashton Old Baths
Tameside Council handed over the building yesterday to flexible workspace operator, Oxford Innovation.
The conversion of the listed baths includes a wooden office pod, installed in the centre of the grand former bathing hall. The pod itself is made up of 6,000 sq ft of offices and is supported by 4,000 sq ft of meeting rooms and break out space.
Ashton Old Baths, which is in Henry Square on Stamford Street West, was built in 1870 in the Italianate style. It functioned as a pool until 1975 and then lay derelict until 2013 when Tameside Council and Place First secured funding from the European Regional Development Fund and Heritage Lottery Fund to restore and renovate the building.
According to Oxford Innovation, design, events, media and technology companies have already let 50% of the available space. These five companies are expected to move into the building in the next couple of months.
John McIlroy and Nick Hilditch from Zestme have secured space in the former Victorian swimming pool. In a joint statement, they said: “As a creative events management company we didn’t just want any office to grow our business – we wanted an innovative, truly iconic space with a creative community to work in.”