Penistone Open Market

Penistone Open market, built for Barnsley County Council in 2010 as part of the Market Towns initiative to house the popular Farmers Market.  This is the largest oak frame in the country which can be accessed by the public!  It stands a massive 24 metres wide, 35 metres long and 13metres high and contains well in excess of 100 cubic metres of oak. 

Penistone Open Market has just won the South Yorkshire and Humber LABC Building Excellence Awards. which took place at the Forest Pines Hotel and Golf Resort, Scunthorpe. The LABC is the umbrella organisation which represents all the Local Authority Building Control Sections in the Country. Not only was the building awarded first place in its class for best Community Project, but it also won the prestigious winner of winners award, selected as overall winner from all classes. We were up against some strong competition, which included the £15.3 million Sheffield Crucible theatre refurbishment and the new £18 million Sheffield Institute of Translational Neuroscience (SITRaN) building. As winner of the regional competition the building will now go forward to the national finals to be held in London later in the year.

This project of 'cathedral' proportions presented Carpenter Oak with exciting challenges in terms of workshop space and carpentry techniques to deal with the sheer scale and weight of the frames. A team of 10 carpenters worked for 10 weeks in the Framing Yard and then took only 2-3 weeks on site to raise the whole structure!

If you are in the area then why not take the time to visit this spectacular frame and do some shopping in the historic market town of Penistone!