Slade Barracks development
There are two separate developments on the old Territorial Army Barracks site in the Slade:
- 72 new houses and flats
- A student block with 350 ensuite rooms and 24 self-contained studios. This block was bought by the Gatehouse Bank in Kuwait for £28.95m. Oxford Brookes University will nominate the tenants in the block, and the bank will get a 9.63% annual return on its money. (As a Sharia-law compliant bank,Gatehouse only puts up money for projects which meet moral standards laid down by Islam, and cannot invest in anything related to gambling or alcohol.)
- Oxford Mail, 3 November 2010:
”Islamic bank snaps up Brookes block of student flats”
History of the development
Berkeley Homes bought the old Slade Barracks site for £11 million (of which £8 million went to Oxford City Council and £3 million to the Ministry of Defence).
Berkeley Homes was originally granted permission in June 2008 to build 353 student study bedrooms and 72 houses and flats on the site (07/02261/FUL).
A second, revised planning application for the site (increasing the number of student rooms in the development from 353 to 374) was approved in 2009 (09/01205/FUL and 09/01553/CND). The entire project was funded jointly by Unite Group and Julian Hodge Bank.
Press reports
- Oxford Mail, 19 January 2009: “Student housing plans”
- Oxford Mail, 3 July 2008 :“End of an era as barracks closes”
- Oxford Mail, 16 April 2008: “Plans for TA centre cause concern”
- Oxford Mail, 4 October 2007: “More homes planned for barracks site”
- Oxford Mail, 10 October 2006: “Council in line for £5m windfall if TA site sold”
- Oxford Mail, 21 September 2006: “Plan to build student housing on Slade site”
The Territorial Army, and the Memorial and the Museum
The Territorial Army’s 7 Rifle moved from the Slade to Dalton Barracks in Abingdon in 2008. The South African War Memorial is the centrepiece of the new TA centre.
The Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry Collection housed in Headington is packed up and will eventually be rehoused in a building next to the museum in Woodstock.
