£57m development for Old Road
The city council’s East Area Planning Committee on 3 August 2011 approved the planning application by the University of Oxford for a new £57m development on its Old Road campus.
Planning application 11/01054/FUL
The decision was called in to be reviewed on 31 August 2011 and was again approved.
- Report by David Rundle on the planning review meeting of 31 August 2011
- Statement by David Rundle on the calling in of the decision
- Report of Planning Review Committee
- Statement by David Rundle on the planning meeting decision
Construction work was scheduled to begin in October 2011 for a 2013 opening. Mace is understood to be the front-runner for the construction.
The University plans to demolish three buildings near the Churchill Hospital (the Richards, ORC Management, and Badenoch Buildings) and replace them with two new buildings:
- North side: Medicine Research Facility for the Nuffield Department of Medicine, with up to 100 staff
- South side: Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology (at present in London), with 120 scientists, 25 support staff, and 40 research students.
No increased parking will be provided, and local residents are concerned about traffic and parking problems.
Park Hospital (“Boundary Brook House”)
Application 11/01918/FUL to provide a 100-space car park at the Park Hospital while the work goes on has been approved.
The University of Oxford is hoping to buy the Park Hospital site from the Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust. A spokesman for the University spokesman Maria Coyle said: “We are exploring whether the Park and Old Road sites can be developed in a manner that appropriately links the two sites together, keeping the wooded character of the site.”
Media reports
Oxford Mail
- 2 September 2011: “Fears university will ‘overdevelop’”
- 25 August 2011: “Residents demand answers over Uni plans for Park Hospital site”
- 4 August 2011: “Residents can’t stop university’s £57m science building”
- 28 July 2011: “£57m science campus likely to gain planning permission”
- 23 June 2011: “Fears over impact of university’s £57m plan”
- 3 February 2011: “New Oxford University campus plans are a worry to residents”
BBC News
- 5 August 2011: “New £57m Oxford Old Road medical labs to go ahead”
The Oxford Student:
- 10 February 2011: “New developments for Old Road campus”
