Somerville College Student Accommodation in Oxford was awarded a certificate of commendation for the RIAI Silver Medal for housing 2011-2012. The award is to encourage excellence of design in housing by giving public recognition to architects responsible for buildings of exceptional merit. It is awarded five years after the competition so the building can be evaluated in a mature setting.
Information on the award can be found here.
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.