The £4m refurb and conversion of the Grade II listed Ashton Old Baths into a new digital, creative and media hub, has been completed.

The project, carried out by Manchester based property developer PlaceFirst working with Tameside Council, has been funded with the support of grants of £1m from European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and £1,712,000 Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

The Ashton Old Baths, an iconic Greater Manchester landmark, has sat empty for over 40 years until PlaceFirst acquired the building in 2014.

It is now set to become home to a new digital, creative & media hub, offering flexible office accommodation, SME incubator services designed to accelerate growth and an event space for staff, clients and guests of the building.

The space also includes self-contained, free-standing office ‘pod’, complimented by 4,000 sq ft of meeting rooms, breakout spaces, and a new rooftop terrace.

The new structure has been designed to minimise physical impacts on the building’s structure, and to preserve the spatial quality of the main bathing hall, one of the largest in the country and second largest in Europe when the baths opened in 1870.

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At ground floor, a glazed lightweight box offers up views of and through the main hall; the box is broken down into a series of rooms that can be used by both occupiers as office space and meeting rooms.

The roof terrace runs the entire length of the building providing added amenity space for occupiers.

The development also benefits from the inclusion of Dark Fibre, which ensures the building offers the fastest broadband speeds available in the UK.

David Smith-Milne, managing director of PlaceFirst, said “The transformation of Ashton Old Baths from derelict landmark to 21st century workspace has been an amazing journey for all involved.

“Considering we only bought the building just under two years ago, to get such an innovative solution on programme and within budget is testament to the passion and commitment of everyone who has worked on the project.

“This includes the Council who have been a huge support throughout the project and the contractor, HH Smith, who worked superbly under demanding conditions. We’re delighted to have played such an important role in the history of this important landmark building and look forward to seeing it go live so that it can continue to play an important role within the wider Ashton-under-Lyne community”.