Costa on site as Langtree kicks on in Hollinwood

Stainforth Construction has started work on the drive-through coffee shop, as fellow contractor I&H Brown nears completion of a £2m enabling works package at the £35m Oldham project.

The Yorkshire-based contractor is programmed to complete the unit and hand over to Costa Coffee for tenant fit-out in October this year.

The enabling works programme, commissioned earlier this year, is due for completion in July and will unlock the part of the Hollinwood Junction site that previously housed a redundant gasholder.

John Downes, Langtree’s group chief executive, said: “Milestones such as this send a strong signal about our intent and our focus on delivering the Hollinwood Junction scheme, and I’m pleased to welcome Stainforth Construction to the team.”

The development of Hollinwood Junction is a partnership between Langtree and Oldham Council that has inched forward in stages since the developer was originally selected in 2007.

After plans stalled during the economic downturn, a strategic partnership agreement was signed in 2011. Remediation works such as the gasholder’s removal then stretched the project.

Euro Garages is now operating an Esso garage at the site, on the former Roxy cinema plot, while in November last year Langtree put in motion plans to sell a former school site, comprising 14 acres in three plots within the holding, for housing

Adjacent to junction 22 of the M60, it is hoped that the Hollinwood Junction site will provide employment, retail, leisure and up to 150 homes.

The indicative masterplan maps out six commercial development plots, not including Costa and Euro Garages, of between 0.68 acres and 7.15 acres.

Cllr Arooj Shah, the new leader of Oldham Council following Sean Fielding’s shock defeat in May’s elections, said: “It’s great to see construction start on the next phase of this important regeneration project which will deliver more jobs for our communities when they are much-needed.”