Niall McLaughlin Architects are delighted to have won the competition for a proposed new development for Balliol College in Oxford. The project brief is to increase and upgrade the College’s undergraduate and graduate student accommodation and provide conference facilities and a sports pavilion. The commission gives the practice the opportunity to revist the design of the student room cluster and create a series of buildings arranged around quadrangles and gardens.
The development of Park Hospital has been granted Outline Planning Consent by the Oxford City Council. The project will redevelop the existing Park Hospital site into additional biomedical research facilities for Oxford University’s Old Road Campus.
The campus is one of the foremost biomedical research campus’ in the UK. As part of the University’s vision to remain a world leader in this field, the redevelopment of Park Hospital will provide an additional 48,000 square metres of accommodation for research and laboratory facilities.
The site is located in a challenging planning environment as it is adjacent to a local wildlife site, connected to the Lye Valley, a site of special scientific interest. Wide ranging consultation took place during the pre-planning phases of the application, on account of the ecological sensitivities of the site and to ensure that the development would benefit the local area.