Oxfordshire’s construction boom to create space for 9,000 workers, says CoStar

Oxford is set to see its stock of office and laboratory buildings soar as developers race to complete more than 700,000 sq ft of new space, according to real estate research firm CoStar.

As a percentage of its existing stock, more business and life science space is being built in Oxford than anywhere else in the country outside of London.

There’s currently around 17 million sq ft of office space in the city – a number expected to grow by more than 4 per cent in the next few years.

High demand for offices over the past year along with a relatively low vacancy rate has encouraged Oxford developers to push the button on new construction projects.

Around 6 per cent of Oxfordshire’s offices are currently vacant, compared with a UK average of more than 8 per cent and almost 11 per cent in nearby Swindon.

Developers have turned away from city centre locations after the introduction of increasingly restrictive traffic-reducing measures over the last 10 years, and new projects have largely been delivered in Oxford’s new business and innovation parks.

Around 200,000 sq ft is being built at Magdalen College’s Oxford Science Park in Littlemore, which currently contains more than 60 companies.

Work on The Leggett Building, which is just over 80,000 sq ft, is expected to finish in the next couple of months, while construction on three other buildings nearby will complete in 2025.

Another notable scheme is Oxford University Begbroke Science Park, where the latest phase of construction will soon be completed to deliver a 135,000 sq ft lab-enabled office building.

The boom in building work is a response to the growing demand for business space from the life science industries.

Oxfordshire is part of the UK’s Golden Triangle, forming an area of significant economic growth and expertise in life sciences alongside Cambridge and London.

Businesses leased almost 350,000 sq ft of office space across Oxfordshire over the last 12 months, almost a third down on the 10-year average as confidence slowly returned after the effects of 2022’s mini-budget.

Patrick Scanlon, senior director of market analytics at CoStar Group, said: “The decision to go ahead with a pipeline of projects of this scale is a testament to the strength of Oxford as a business and life sciences location, particularly at a time when several of the UK’s major office markets are experiencing falling demand.”

However, traffic created by the new developments will be a concern to local businesses and residents, adds CoStar.

The new developments, many of which are located around Oxford’s ring road, will be able to host almost 9,000 staff, potentially adding pressure to the already-strained transport network.

In fact, Oxford has seen one of the biggest increases in traffic delays in the region since 2020.

Data from the Department for Transport shows that the average delay on Oxfordshire’s A-roads has increased by 32 per cent since the pandemic – far ahead of the 20 per cent increase in nearby Berkshire.