Primrose Bank is a mixed-tenure residential development on a hillside site, bordering Oldham town centre. It forms part of the ‘Gateways to Oldham Private Finance Initiative’ and consists of 192 new dwellings integrated with 43 existing houses that have been refurbished. OMI also designed a new Community Centre and a series of integrated parks, play areas and landscaped public realm.

Radical changes have been made to the character and legibility of this previously failing neighbourhood by introducing a clear pattern of streets and public spaces, which connect with their surroundings. Inspiration is drawn from local hill settlements where building lines are distorted to respond to topography, creating a rich and varied sequence of places. The qualities of solidity and dignity that characterise the adjacent Victorian terraces have been reinterpreted to give an appropriate identity to the new community.