OXWED LLP, the joint venture between Nuffield College and Oxford City Council, is excited to announce that the planning applications for the regeneration of the Oxpens site have been submitted and validated by Oxford City Council.

In line with the recently adopted Supplementary Planning Document for Oxford’s West End and the Council’s Economic and City Centre strategies, the proposals by OXWED will transform a neglected part of the city into a vibrant mixed-use neighbourhood, which will contribute up to an estimated £270m annually to Oxford’s economy, with a £24m yearly boost in spending to local businesses.  The scheme will turn an under-utilised, 15-acre, brownfield site into an extension of the city centre. 

OXWED’s application is for 234 new apartments (50 per cent of which will be affordable), 258 student rooms, approximately 500,000 sq ft net of labs or office space and a 250 bed hotel.

Fundamental to the design is new and accessible high quality public space with the proposals expanding the existing Oxpens Meadow, ‘opening up the riverside’ and adding a new public amphitheatre for use as an event space.  The development is planned to be largely car free, instead offering extensive public transport and active travel links, stitched into the city with new and improved walking and cycling routes.

These proposals will play a key role in addressing the vital need for new housing, commercial and hotel space in the city and have been carefully developed by an expert professional team, including Architects Hawkins Brown and Landscape Architects Gillespies, and subject to extensive public consultation.

Kevin Minns, Managing Director at OXWED, said: “This is an incredible milestone both for the scheme and for the future of Oxford’s West End.  This area of Oxford, with its rich social history of industry and community,  has been overlooked and under-appreciated for too long but now has the capacity to really deliver for the people of Oxford.  New homes, jobs, commercial space, a public square with shops and community amenities, amphitheatre and new green spaces all just moments from the train station in Oxfordshire’s most sustainable location.  We look forward to bringing our vision and ambition for this regeneration to life.”

The planning submissions include an outline planning application with an illustrative masterplan, parameter plans and supporting design code, together with a detailed planning application for the enabling works to prepare the site for development.  Subject to planning permissions, OXWED will then look to join forces with a development partner to bring the ambitious proposals to life, commencing in 2023. 

Now that the applications have been submitted and validated, Oxford City Council, as Local Planning Authority, has opened its own consultation on the proposals before reaching a decision.  This consultation runs until 15 February.