Oxpens Third Exhibition
Welcome to this third online exhibition about the planning submission for the Oxpens mixed-use development being promoted by OXWED, a joint venture between Nuffield College and Oxford City Council.
This exhibition sets out: how Oxpens fits within Oxford City Council’s wider plans for the area; how we have responded to the proposed locations of the Oxpens River Bridge; and how we aim to contribute to the Council’s new strategies for economic and city centre vitality. It summarises what will be in the planning submission, what’s changed in the light of further technical and design assessments and feedback from our public consultations in July and November last year.
Thank you for your interest and we hope you find this update helpful. The full set of material can be found at the bottom of this page.
Our Vision for Oxpens
Our Vision for Oxpens is to create an exciting, mixed-use, riverside neighbourhood designed around outstanding new public spaces for anyone to use and enjoy. Oxpens is a once in a lifetime opportunity to transform this part of disused brownfield site and bring new and better homes, jobs, connectivity and public realm into this important part of the city.
Objectives
Enhancing the river edge and extending Oxpens Meadow
Protect and support nature and biodiversity
Expand the city’s public realm
Create a new outdoor amphitheatre space for performances, hospitality and informal activity.
Making the area sustainable, low carbon and flood resilient
Create a safe, connected, accessible and inclusive place for all
Facilitate the improvement of Opxens Road, enhance the cycle and pedestrian connections in the area and integrate the proposed Oxpens River Bridge into the masterplan
Provide a mix of uses to add to Oxford’s residential, employment and hospitality offer
Create a distinctive identity that connects to Oxpens’ creative past and feels part of Oxford
Create an attractive neighbourhood for residents, employees, and visitors
Page navigation: this is a single scroll page. If you want to read all the material, keep scrolling. You can also visit or revisit specific sections by clicking on the headings below:
Evolving Oxford - A Vision for the West End
Oxford City Council is bringing forward policies which are designed to enable Oxford to meet its challenges and embrace its opportunities.
A new Economic Strategy defines the approach to jobs and investment, helping the city to grow a strong, inclusive and resilient economy, whilst the proposed West End and Osney Mead Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) will guide how development comes forward in this important and highly sustainable part of the city centre, in the context of the existing Local Plan.
The £161 million investment in Oxford Railway Station, the Central Oxfordshire Travel Plan and the new Oxpens River Bridge means Oxpens forms part of a wider body of infrastructure and investment in the city. Oxpens will help deliver the Council’s strategic priorities of Zero Carbon Oxford, a vibrant City Centre, an inclusive and thriving economy, and the delivery of new affordable housing:
Consultations in 2020 - 2022
Over the last two years, we have engaged extensively with a wide range of stakeholders in Oxford, including the statutory authorities such as the local planning authority, highway authority and Environment Agency, along with other key stakeholders. We also held two rounds of public consultation in July and November 2021 to seek views on our approach and invite feedback. A wide range of comments were made and these are summarised below.
In addition to assessing the views shared by members of the public, during 2022 we’ve continued our engagement with the statutory authorities and other key stakeholders, and have recently been working closely with Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council on their plans for the Oxpens River Bridge, incorporating the proposed position of the bridge into the masterplan.
Key Feedback from Public Consultations in July and November 2021
The idea of a new mixed-use quarter was generally well received
Creating a new public space was a plus
Access, circulation, servicing and parking all need addressing
Minimise the vehicular impact of the development on Oxpens Road and the surrounding area
A proportion of new homes need to be affordable • Do we really need more student rooms offices and hotel space; shouldn’t there be more homes?
The role, appearance and working of the Ice Rink including parking needs consideration
It needs a strong identity and good quality architecture
Roof lines and skyline articulation is important to ‘fit into Oxford’
The area needs to feel accessible and safe for all – no antisocial behaviour
Protecting nature and biodiversity is a priority,
Recognising a ‘once in a generation opportunity’
A new walking and cycling network was supported, including the proposed bridge including Oxpens Meadow
The provision of new homes is considered a key aspect
Sustainability is an important element, especially addressing energy and climate change/flooding
Encouragement to make the most of the river edge opportunity onto the Thames
Detail of pre-submission consultation appreciated
The amphitheatre activity needs sensitive, ‘good neighbour’ management
The Updated Oxpens Masterplan
We’ve made a number of significant adjustments which make the proposals better. The scheme has been re-balanced with more housing and a smaller hotel. We’ve also changed the designs to make sure our proposals integrate effectively with the proposed location for the Oxpens River Bridge.
New Public Space for Oxford
Opening up the river, creating outstanding public space, and enriching this part of Oxford with much-improved, well curated public realm are fundamentals for the masterplan. Oxpens Meadow is a highly valued green asset for the city. Our proposals will extend the meadows into the Oxpens development, significantly increasing the amount of riverside green space and creating distinctive new public spaces that are open for all. The centrepieces will be our proposed Oxpens amphitheatre, which will include new ‘theatre’ space for events, together with a new Public Square at the heart of the scheme. These will be genuinely accessible public spaces for anyone to use and enjoy.
Events Lawn - Oxpens Amphitheatre
Flooding and Oxpens Meadow
Oxpens Meadow and the proposed amphitheatre lie at the heart of the Oxpens masterplan. Both areas currently provide important flood capacity and with works required for the development, flood capacity must be maintained.
Flood capacity analysis
A comparison between the flood areas before and after the work is shown below, with the outcome being that additional flood capacity is provided.
Works to Oxpens Meadow and forming the amphitheatre
Higher areas of Oxpens Meadow will be lowered to riverbank level to enhance its flood mitigation role. Once these works have been completed, the amphitheatre can be formed. Details of the work is shown below.
Landscape and Biodiversity
Creating a green and biodiverse neighbourhood is a critical element of the design approach to Oxpens. We will increase the amount of biodiversity on the site by 10%.
Integrative ‘green placemaking’ appraoch
Our overarching aim is to create a powerful sense of distinctive Thameside Oxford that captures the mix of riverside greenery, water, meadow and carefully designed built environment.
Integrative ‘green placemaking’ appraoch
We plan to protect the best of existing trees and vegetation, and enhance this with new planting of species native to
the Thames Valley as well wildlife friendly species selected for their suitability for the site conditions. This would include alder, willow and wildflower meadow.
Integrative ‘green placemaking’ appraoch
We propose to protect and enhance the river edge habitats with a new, planted swale integrated along the east edge of the meadow with native wetland plants. The meadow will be reprofiled and reseeded and new wildflower areas will be created around the perimeter to improve species diversity.
The new amphitheatre will contain water gardens planted with flood resilient wildlife friendly planting. Within the built areas of the development planted rain gardens, street trees, green walls and green roofs will be incorporated to maximise biodiversity value and create a green neighbourhood.
Harder landscape
The urban landscape treatment will use sustainable, durable high quality materials tying in with those historically used in the West End. A sense of safety and inclusion of all ages and abilities will be at the heart of our design, with seating and pause areas, smooth surfaces, and lighting and signs to aid wayfinding round the site.
Connectivity and Movement
Moving towards a low carbon future is a major element of the Oxpens plan and with a largely car-free development, making Oxpens as accessible as possible by public transport, walking and cycling is critical to the scheme's success.
Integrating Oxpens into Oxford
As part of the Central Oxfordshire Travel Plan now out for consultation, Oxpens Road is proposed to become a Zero Emissions Zone, with traffic filters on Thames Street. OXWED has been liaising with Oxfordshire County Council Highways over improvements to Oxpens Road and has proposed the following for OCC Highways to consider;
Well connected, 10 minute walk neighbourhood
The development will have a distinctive new network of streets, lanes and spaces that will connect easily to the wide range of existing services, facilities and public transport links all within a 10 minute walk.
Energy and Carbon
OXWED’s objective is to minimise energy use and carbon emmissions as the world moves towards a ‘Net Zero’ future. With the National Grid rapidly decarbonising and technologies fast improving, a no gas, electric-only development has been part of the strategy from the outset. Furthermore, carbon emmissions from construction materials and methods also form a key part of the sustainability approach and in this fast-changing area within the building industry, these will be looked at carefully at the detailed design stage.
The Oxford Local Plan 2020 sets a policy requirement of a 40% improvement over current building regulations for all new residential developments and BREEAM Excellent on all non-domestic buildings (offices, labs and hotels), rising to 50% in 2025 when the Oxpens development could start to be built. Building Regulations dating back to 2013 have recently been replaced, resulting in a higher starting point onto which the Oxford Local Plan improvement must be added.
‘Hybrid’ - passive with technology appraoch
Using a mix of passive design (meaning a low energy approach is embedded into the fabric of the buildings) with efficient technologies it will be possible to reduce significantly the energy consumption of the new buildings over current standards, with a particular focus on three main technologies:
The Oxpens masterplan will balance ‘green’ roofs for biodiversity with the provision of solar panels to generate electricity.
All the buildings at Oxpens will combine heat pump technology (air or ground source) with ventilation (with heat recovery) and highly efficient lighting with strategies tailored to the use and position of each building.
The all-electric approach at Oxpens will come into its own as the grid’s energy is increasingly provided from renewable sources. What is best for each building will depend on its use, but the operational carbon from all buildings is projected to reduce dramatically over time, contributing to Oxford’s overall low carbon future.
Skyline and Views
The skyline and key views towards the proposed Oxpens scheme and out towards the hills from central Oxford are being carefully considered to inform the position of the masterplan within Oxford’s skyline.
Skyline articulation
The predominant scale will be within a 5-6 storey range. There will be detailed variation of the roofscape with occasional features to sit within the character of the skyline and reflect the diversity of uses in the proposed masterplan. The images below show an example of the skyline view testing being undertaken to inform the development of the masterplan.
Existing view from Raleigh Park
View from Raleigh Park of the proposed masterplan
Existing view from Oxford Castle
View from Oxford Castle of the proposed masterplan
Oxpens Planning Applications
OXWED will be submitting two planning applications. There will be an Outline Planning Application for the development which will seek approval for the principles of the development and a Detailed Planning Application for the Enabling Works (mainly flood mitigation works) that need to be undertaken before construction of the buildings can commence. Separately, Oxford City Council will submit a detailed planning application for the Oxpens River Bridge.
Opportunity for People to Comment on the Planning Applications
Once the planning applications have been submitted, full details of each application will be posted on Oxford City Council’s website and there will then be public consultation period during which members of the public will be able to submit their comments. Statutory consultees such as the Environment Agency, Oxfordshire County Council Highways etc will also comment on the application during this period, along with other stakeholder groups such as Oxford Preservation Trust, Oxford Civic Society and CYCLOX.
OXWED - Outline Planning Application
This will comprise a masterplan with parameter plans (showing the layout of the scheme), design code (a framework promoting high quality design) and supporting documentation. If this application is approved, the next stage would be to work up detailed designs and to then submit a ‘Reserved Matters Application’ for approval.
OXWED - Enabling Works Detailed Planning Application
This will comprise a Detailed Planning Application with plans showing full details of the works to be undertaken. The Enabling Works are centred around flood works to the Meadows and Amphitheatre and if approved, OXWED would be able to be able to proceed with those works, subject to compliance with any associated planning conditions.
Oxford City Council - Oxpens River Bridge
Oxford City Council will be submitting a Detailed Planning Application for the Bridge and associated footpath works.
Indicative Timeline
