A new commercial centre, which has revived the fortunes of a former cinema and bingo hall in Oxford, has officially opened its doors for business.

The Old Music Hall, in Cowley Road, is now home to 30 charities, campaign groups and social enterprises, following a £3.3m conversion of the building by the Ethical Property Company.

An invited audience, including the Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire, Tim Stevenson, and Oxford East MP Andrew Smith attended a ceremony to mark the occasion.

Oxford's deputy lord mayor Elise Benjamin, who runs the charity Africa Now from the building, said: "We wanted bigger offices, with disabled access, so we could attract more volunteers.

"There's also an excellent link with other organisations in the building, who are similar to us and with whom we can share facilities. I'm so happy with how the building has turned out."

Mr Stevenson has been involved with the development from an early stage, having been involved in Charity Centre Oxford, a group of charities requiring shared office space.

The Ethical Property Company, which owns and manages 14 centres for charities and social enterprises across the UK and Europe, was contacted and the building, which had been used as a book store by publisher Blackwell's, was bought in 2006.

It was then refitted to a high environmental standard, with a new extension built with straw bale walls, with a grass roof, while the courtyard is built entirely from reclaimed and recycled materials.

Tenant Trish Walsh, of Reducing the Risk, which has a staff of three, said: "We love our office. Sharing ideas with like-minded people is wonderful."

The 17,000sq ft building is now fully occupied and Jamie Hartzell, managing director of the Oxford Ethical Property Company, said he was very satisfied with how it had turned out.

He added: "The advent of the Old Music Hall will bring new life to Oxford's charity and social enterprise sector."

The building at 106-108 Cowley Road dates back to 1896, when it was known as the Lyric Hall. It was renamed the Empire Theatre in 1900 before Frank Stuart reopened it as the Palace Picture House cinema in 1912.

It was bought by Blackwell's in 1938 and converted into offices.

Mr Smith said: "It's a brilliant project which is meeting a great need in Oxford for good quality space for social organisations and is part of the exciting diversity of the Cowley Road."