Egyptian Room, Oldham Town Hall
- Location
- Oldham, UK
- Client
- Oldham Council
- Expertise
- Architecture
- Acoustics
- Design Management
- Lighting
- Completion
- 2024
The Egyptian Room Food Hall project extends BDP’s partnership with Oldham Council and the rejuvenated Grade II listed Old Town Hall building in Oldham town centre, the main transformation of which was also designed by BDP and completed in 2016.
The Council’s brief for this new project is to create a transformation of the amazing yet challenging Egyptian Room and adjoining spaces to bring it back into public use as a casual dining food hall, but also beyond that to engage physically and through the activities within as a catalyst for community, leisure, culture and the night time economy of the wider town centre.
Our design for the Egyptian Room breathes new life into arguably the most historically valuable and beautifully restored space within the Old Town Hall building. Working in collaboration with Oldham Council and the operation team, our proposals transform the spectacular former Borough Treasurer’s Rates Hall into a contemporary food hall and casual dining venue with 200 covers. The food hall proposals introduce a variety of food and beverage concessions, centred upon a flexible social and dining space and external al-fresco dining terrace which addresses Parliament Square.
To accommodate this new use, the project introduces a range of carefully curated new interventions in and around the main double-height volume of the Egyptian Room. Modular food concession units, a bar, customer facilities and bespoke mezzanine structures are carefully positioned within, yet never touching the highly decorative glazed tiled walls. The design approach at all times treads lightly within the existing historic building, creating a distinction between new insertions and existing features which clearly articulates the contrast between the two. Materials and finishes have been carefully selected for their robust self-finished qualities and crafted to resonate with the opulent warm tones and stylised decoration of the painstakingly restored original decorative glazed tiles, terrazzo and timber parquet floors and vaulted decorative plaster ceilings. The completed spaces have been sensitively illuminated to respond to the features of the historic building and to create a warm, welcoming and atmospheric environment day and night.
