Oxford Science Park plans 350,000 sq ft boost to campus
Oxford Science Park plans to create almost 350,000 sq ft of new lab and office space in the remaining plots across the campus, citing ever-growing demand for life science space in the region.
The park, owned and managed by Magdalen College Oxford, has submitted proposals for new buildings on the 3.5-acre plot 18, to the north of the park, and plots 23-26, which total around 9.4 acres in the southwestern corner.
These are the last of the cleared development plots, according to the planning documents, with some earlier plans affected by “market conditions”. Today the park is almost entirely let. The statement added: “Now is the time to be revisiting these plots as the demand for more life science and laboratory floorspace becomes ever more prevalent in today’s environment.”
Oxford Science Park plans to create almost 350,000 sq ft of new lab and office space in the remaining plots across the campus, citing ever-growing demand for life science space in the region.
The park, owned and managed by Magdalen College Oxford, has submitted proposals for new buildings on the 3.5-acre plot 18, to the north of the park, and plots 23-26, which total around 9.4 acres in the southwestern corner.
These are the last of the cleared development plots, according to the planning documents, with some earlier plans affected by “market conditions”. Today the park is almost entirely let. The statement added: “Now is the time to be revisiting these plots as the demand for more life science and laboratory floorspace becomes ever more prevalent in today’s environment.”
The outline planning application is seeking consent for some 348,000 sq ft of space in total across the sites. The plans could see a three-storey building of 68,000 sq ft at plot 18, and buildings of four and five storeys totalling almost 280,000 sq ft across plots 23-26.
A planning statement from Savills describes the development as “an exciting opportunity” for Oxford, one that would let the park meet “increasing demand from current and future occupiers, which in turn strengthens Oxford’s competitiveness in the national and global life sciences sector”.
More than 3,500 people work across the 100 companies currently occupying the park. “The development of plots 18 and 23-26 is essential to meet the forecast demand on the park in the next three to five years from businesses with a headcount of more than 100, and inevitable growth of Oxford’s commercial ecosystem as intellectual property continues to be harnessed and commercialised at an unprecedented rate,” the planning statement said.
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