Oxford shopping centre revamp to add lab space and student digs

A shopping centre in Oxford could be redeveloped to include lab space and student accommodation alongside the existing retail offering. The Clarendon Centre in Oxford city centre operates as a shopping mall on the ground floor with four floors of offices above. Owner Lothbury Investment Management now wants to push through a three-phase redevelopment of the 1980s site, turning it into not only retail and office space, but also student accommodation and laboratories. The plans, lodged with the council, would see the roof of the shopping centre removed, turning the retail space into a series of open-air streets through the site. There would also be an open square at the centre of the site. Lothbury Investment Management said the centre has faced “headwinds” and is “unsustainable” in its current form as a retail-led shopping centre. The investment manager said the centre has faced significant competition from the larger Westgate Oxford, opened by Landsec and the Crown Estate in 2017. “The completion of the [Westgate Oxford] development coincided with the collapse in the retail market meaning the Clarendon Centre has faced a real struggle to maintain a full line-up of high-quality shops as retailers nationally have looked to reduce their physical store presence,” Lothbury added in planning documents. “Those tenants with expiries post the opening of Westgate did not generally renew and those who did, as well as new retailers, were on commercially very poor terms for the owner of the scheme.” Lothbury added that the new uses for the site will make it “a success for everyone”. “By providing R&D laboratory accommodation it will help cater for the phenomenal growth in spin-out companies coming out of the universities each year,” the company said. “It will provide much-needed lab space which is in short supply and will help to retain talent in Oxford city centre rather than losing them to the suburbs and other urban centres because of a lack of supply. “Similarly, a greater offering of high-quality office accommodation will bring in a larger, more diverse employment base into the city centre. At present office workers are pushed to the business parks on the outskirts of the city. These people will in turn support a wider array of retail, leisure and other businesses to the benefit of the entire city centre.” To send feedback, e-mail tim.burke@egi.co.uk or tweet @_tim_burke or @estatesgazette Photo: Richard Sowersby/Shutterstock