Oxford 'Science Cities' report - Part two

Above: view of ARC Oxford (Advanced Research Clusters' campus at Cowley, just to the west of the BMW Mini plant)

In the second part of Future Cities Forum's report from its event 'Science Cities' at Jesus College, Oxford, we discussed the tensions and benefits around the development of the Cowley Branch line, the battle over the use of green belt land, how to plan for high-quality green space in Oxford, best practice in science park design and what needs to change in the planning system to generate affordable housing.

In this report, we feature the contributions of Oxford City Council's Economy, City Centre & Green Transport Lead, Ted Maxwell, LDA Design's Director Dafydd Warburton and Associate Ben Croot, Oxford University Development's Director of Planning Tom Clarke, Victoria Collett, Development Director at Thomas White Oxford, Lambsquay Consulting's Simon Payne, ARC Group's Development & Construction Director Jenny Gardner and Partner at David Lock Associates, Joanne Cave who also co-chairs the Oxford Design Review Panel.

Above: Graphic showing housing element of the Cowley Branch Line proposal (Courtesy Oxford City Council)

Oxford City Council's Ted Maxwell spoke enthusiastically about the opportunity of new stations for the Cowley Branch Line, which in his view will make a vast difference in connectivity and housing development, despite the tensions over discussions with Historic England in protecting landscape views:

'The Cowley Branch Line is not a silver bullet but if successful will be a real exemplar for other projects. The proposal is to upgrade the track infrastructure so it can work for passengers as well as freight. It will create two new stations for Littlemore and Cowley and there is an inherent logic to that connectivity in historic terms as there were stations in place sixty years ago. They are two of the most deprived wards in the city and yet there will be quick connections created to the city centre and beyond to Marylebone, London for those communities - and potentially to East West Rail to Bedford and Cambridge. I am working with Oxford County Council and three local land developers on funding and what we do not want is for these two stations to arrive like alien spaceships, and to make sure the severance made by the ring road is addressed and partly undone. Historic England is an interested party and will prefer to see sustainable connections, but we believe that control of economic development is supported by this scheme coming forward. We would like to see up to 10,000 new jobs being created. How high or dense the development should be are ongoing questions, but there is no doubt, whether it is existing housing or new development, all of it will be made more sustainable.'

Oxford City Council has recently described the Cowley Branch Line project, as part of a public consultation:

'Oxford City Council, working with Oxfordshire County Council, local landowners, Network Rail and Department for Transport, is reviewing ways to reopen passenger services to the Cowley Branch Line in Oxford. 

'If funded, the line would be upgraded and two new stations would be built: “Oxford Littlemore” (for Littlemore and The Oxford Science Park) and “Oxford Cowley” (for Blackbird Leys and ARC Oxford). The planning assumption is for two trains per hour via Oxford Station through to London Marylebone Station. 

'The new rail stations would connect significant employment sites and residential areas to the city centre in less than 10 minutes, with the possibility of direct connections to Oxford Parkway, Bicester and beyond. This would help to improve the public transport options for journeys into and around the City, increasing overall capacity locally, reducing congestion on our roads and contributing to a better rail network in Oxfordshire and the wider region. Network Rail estimates that more than 1,000,000 journeys per year would be made using the new stations after only three years of operation.

'In addition to transforming journeys, reopening the Cowley Branch Line to passengers would support the sustainable development of new homes and commercial employment spaces already proposed near the stations.

'An innovative local funding mix has been brought together to develop the Full Business Case (FBC) for this project, including funding from ARC Oxford, The Oxford Science Park, Ellison Institute of Technology, Oxfordshire County Council and Oxford City Council. However, the delivery phase is still to be funded. There is a need for significant investment, including from other local parties, if the scheme is to be delivered in the coming years.

Historic England has been concerned about the impact on the landscape around the line and stations but Ben Croot of LDA Design, who has been working with Homes England, says that the project will be a game changer for Oxford:

'Get it right and it will be an exemplar. We do the best we can and there will be tensions. It is best to see design as a process and this is important. We aim as we move forward to getting agreement and everyone recognises that changes do happen. There will be good outcomes. The important thing is to have conversations early and bring this project forward collectively.'

Above: 'greening' interventions in Market Street Oxford

Above: St Michael's Street view towards Cornmarket, central Oxford

LDA Design's Dafydd Warburton discussed the place agenda for Oxford, which in his view is of great importance:

'The greening of the city needs to happen, there has been too much grey. Some of the current initiatives about bringing green for instance into Market Street just here outside Jesus College, are small schemes but making a real difference. The changes to Broad Street have altered peoples' perspectives. Obviously, zero emission zones would help. The pedestrianisation of St Michael's Street is planned, but there need to more schemes. As an example of places that can be turned into healthy streets, we have been working on schemes in Camden, London and the benefits of these projects are huge and provide more inclusivity, green spaces and pollution reduction. You are right there are barriers but if done properly through the use of raised planters and careful design these can be overcome. We do need to be moving towards a greener city. A lot of green is still hidden away in colleges which people cannot engage with, so we need to bring the green into the streets.'

Above: 'Broad Meadow' Broad Street Oxford (Courtesy LDA Design)

The conversation moved onto ideas of best design for science parks in and around Oxford. Tom Clarke of Oxford University Development spoke of the importance of drawing in the community through design for the major mixed-use expansion of Begbroke Science Park:

'I am part of Oxford University and I am working with Legal & General on Begbroke. Five years ago I went to an exhibition about the future told through a hundred objects at the V&A and Oxford Nanopore's hand held genome sequencing device was a part of it. It is now very large company, one of the most successful listings on the London Stock Exchange and it started life at Begbroke, spinning out of Oxford University . Begbroke at the time was only about hundred thousand square foot in size, and compare that with Stanford's ten million square foot science park! However, it shows the opportunity to grow the location, and we now have a planning application in for one and half million additional R&D space, and eighteen hundred new homes alongside that with half being affordable.

'The brief to the master-plan team was 'we are not going to build a science park next to a housing estate without integrating new amenities of schools and country parks'. We want the park to be open to the surrounding villages - Yarnton, Kidlington and so on - and we want to tell the story from the outset about what's in it for the local community, not just talking about high level science. That's the heart of the brief. We want a new town square where people can come in and meet the scientists. I came from the Wellcome Trust in Hinxton where I achieved permission to extend the Genome Campus. There was a deep local pride and huge outreach for the local community to be part of the science activity. On the Hinxton Village sign there is a wheat sheaf and a double helix. We are holding garden parties at Begbroke and at a recent one, fifteen hundred people turned up to meet the scientists. There's a real appetite as Begbroke is currently a gated science park. We are definitely blurring the boundaries of the park and the community.'

Above: CGI of centre of proposed Begbroke science park development (courtesy Oxford University Development)

Above: CGI of new housing and mixed-use development for Wellcome Genome Campus at Hinxton (Courtesy Arup)

Former Cambridge City Council's Head of Environment and now running his own planning consultancy, Lambsquay Consulting, Simon Payne reflected on his work at Hinxton and for Uttlesford Council nearby:

'I was very impressed by the work of the Wellcome Trust at Hinxton which I observed during my planning work for Uttlesford Council when Grosvenor had a competing proposal for a garden community literally the other side of the fence. Wellcome would get on the phone to Downing Street directly to talk about how the community must be central to these developments. It is essential to look at the 'what's in it for me' element. I also worked on the Eddington project in Cambridge, where a substantial amount of green belt land was taken for the development which included 50 per cent key worker housing. Two local authorities of different political persuasions worked very well together on that, and it is an excellent development where we took the principle of the large green spaces and relatively high density of housing in the centre of Cambridge and applied those to Eddington.

'What can we hope for from our new government? Our plan-led system is stuck, so I think what we need now are clear targets, strategic planning would be a good idea and a national economic plan that can be interpreted for local areas. We must also stop the huge arguments that go on at district level about housing. We must be clear on what we need to deliver. One idea is to say we have strategic plan, by default that becomes a development plan unless you can produce your local plan...what an incentive that becomes for district councils.

'The mood music is optimistic among planners at the moment, which is good because so often planning authorities have felt embattled without enough resources. We need to create enough time and capacity both in the public and private organisations to create great places. Of course in this we must also include National Highways and the Environment Agency. Digital mapping needs to continue to expand and be given emphasis. AI is also very important allowing planners to assess several thousand local plans in a few seconds rather that three to four months. This resource allows the planner to summarise several hundred objections very quickly enables and releases him / her to then to think deeply about the core of great places.'

Image: Oxford North, courtesy of Fletcher Priest / Thomas White Oxford

Oxford North, the new innovation district in Oxford, has recently announced that it has reached its highest point in construction and topped out its first phase with the Red Hall’s new cantilever roof lowered into place and two new lab buildings' steel frames completed. Oxford North is the new £700 million innovation district in Oxford which will deliver one million sq ft (92,903 sq m) of laboratories and workspaces for science and technology companies, 480 new homes, and amenities which will include a market square, hotel, nursery, cafe, bar and three public parks.

The development of Oxford North as a new science campus and mixed use development has always been thought of as an inspiring new gateway to the city, but it has had its objections. Victoria Collett of Thomas White Oxford (St John's College Oxford's development company) says they have always had a focus on the positive and what it can bring to the city:

'Oxford North is owned by St John's College and has joint venture partners for the commercial side of the site. I have gone through the phase 2 of the consultation and there have always been a core group of objectors. The site was originally taken out of the green belt in 2011 and planning actions were taken in partnership with Oxford City Council. It has been called the Northern Gateway into the city with the idea of improving it greatly. Although we have been aware of a core of objectors (who we believe are opposed to any type of development), we have focussed on the benefits of public art, our programme of skills training and employment, to put it on a more positive footing. We are in our construction phase with a strong training programme. We look to see which jobs are available early on and then go to the colleges to set up skills training courses for local people. We need to focus also on providing the right facilities for expanding science businesses. It is difficult to plan for endless flexibility but our facilities can suit growing companies.'

ARC Group's Development and Construction Director Jenny Gardner added her perspective on the branding of science parks and investment in space research:

'At Harwell we have over 300 space companies, and my job is on the private side joint venture part of the campus to try and grow the platform. We are currently working on the Space Gateway project to deliver 200,000 square feet of space in a new building. This is a joint partnership between us and the public sector. It will essentially bring the UK Space Agency and the Catapult together which will be able to explain to the public the benefits of space research. It will also bring in the Ministry of Defence and a third of the space will be dedicated to the private sector. If we can get this through, politics allowing, the building will be our bright shining star at the front of the campus drawing in both professionals and the public. I am not an an architect but I rely a lot on them to help bring a strong visual feel and identity to buildings on the campus.'

ARC Group has recently reported a the addition of a major tenant company at Harwell:

'Moderna, a biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines, has selected Harwell the UK’s leading science and innovation campus, as the location for its Moderna Innovation and Technology Centre (MITC).  

The MITC development will encompass a research, development and manufacturing facility, providing the UK public with access to cutting-edge mRNA vaccines for a wide range of respiratory diseases, pending regulatory assessment and licensure.  

'The MITC will also include a clinical biomarker laboratory -a prefabricated modular laboratory constructed in Northumberland which will then be installed on the campus. Construction will begin this year, with the facility expected to become operational in 2025, subject to planning and regulatory approvals. The investment will create hundreds of jobs across Oxfordshire and the UK and will cement Harwell Campus as a national health tech hub for the pioneering research and development of mRNA and other nucleic acid therapeutics. 

Martin Reeves, Chief Executive of Oxfordshire County Council, commented:

'Design can really help the psychological aspect, as well as the physical side, of connecting our science parks and clusters. It can help to explain what is really going on in these campuses, so people understand how they fit together and relate to other life going on in the county and region.'

Joanne Cave Partner at David Lock Associates and Co-Chair of the Oxford Design Review Panel described the challenge of lack of strategic planning:

'What I see in terms of connectivity and how sites come forward - and having been with the Panel to review Begbroke twice and to Oxford North - what I see is where you have organisations like Oxford University Development and Thomas White Oxford who own very large swathes of land then you are able to bring forward more comprehensive master-plans that are thinking about the infrastructure as well as what the people working there will need, how the housing problems can be helped, then the outcomes are much more successful. Where you can get fragmentation of ownership then it becomes more difficult for the city council to have that control, and it's more difficult for the Design Review Panel when you don't have that context of place to understand how the proposition - which might be a single building - will work. The more context you can create through joint strategic planning then the more you can work out how places will connect, and understand the impact.'

David Lock Associates has been involved in the planning for the successful Waterbeach development which is seven miles outside the science city of Cambridge, for the Secretary of State for Defence and Urban & Civic. The outline planning application was coordinated and submitted for 6,500 new homes, small medium employment space, new centres, schools, community use and leisure uses, and supporting infrastructure. A network of new green spaces including opening up a 7 hectare lake for public use and recreation forms part of the site wide strategy.

Please watch out for the third part of the discussion to be published soon.

Above: Cornmarket with new Jesus College buildings on left - with retail and healthcare, designed by MICA Architects, looking towards Carfax, with Clarendon Centre on right, undergoing conversion to urban science labs