Expanded plans for Oxford North’s Red Hall approved by council

A petition from Oxford North Ventures to increase the scope of its upcoming Red Hall development has been approved by Oxford City Council at a planning committee held earlier this week.

This proposed expansion builds upon the original plans submitted in March 2021, which would see the Red Hall join the first phase of development at Oxford North, a new innovation district. The scheme will deliver one million square foot of laboratory and workspaces, alongside 480 new homes and various amenities and infrastructure.

Designed by Fletcher Priest Architects, the enhanced Red Hall adds a café-bar, retail units, community space, co-working spaces, and additional meeting and workspace for a range of start-ups and SMEs. The estate management team at Oxford North Ventures will also be setting up offices there.

In all, the new plans for the Red Hall introduce an additional 21,539 square foot to the original design, bringing the building up to a total of 61,462 square foot over five floors.

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The Hall itself will target BREEAM Excellent certification, while an energy sharing loop network is in place across all phases of the development to ensure sustainability and carbon efficiency. Features are set to include efficient lighting, high levels of fabric performance and optimised ventilation to incorporate heat recovery and solar PV technology.

Oxford North Ventures is the joint venture company of Thomas White Oxford, which is in turn the development company of St John’s College, Cadillac Fairview, and Stanhope.

Stanhope CEO David Camp said: “By expanding the Red Hall in the first phase and delivering amenity from day one that we open our doors, we can ensure that we are providing an exciting new place for companies and their staff at all stages of their growth to be based and a place for the local community to use and visit.

“This approval from Oxford City Council means that we can start construction of the first phase of new low carbon lab, workspaces and amenity and continue to create construction jobs and vital new science and innovation space for Oxford.”

Acting on behalf of Oxford North Ventures for the development are Fletcher Priest Architects, Gustafson, Porter + Bowman, Savills, Stantec, Hoare Lea, AKT II, and BSG Ecology.

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