Harcourt hill project

Summary

Building:	Harcourt Hill Residential Buildings Phases 1A & 1B
Campus location:	Harcourt Hill
Project Manager:	GSS Architecture
Delivery date:	Phase 1B: September 2010, Phase 1A May 2011
Budget:	£19M
Users:	Undergraduate and Post Graduate Students

Project outline

The project at Harcourt Hill is to create new halls of residence to modern standards with en-suite bathrooms to replace the existing residential accommodation. Initially there will be a shortfall of 160 bed spaces when existing residential block is demolished in summer 2010 until Ph 1b 70 beds, comes on stream in September 2010. The larger of the two blocks, Phase 1a follows in May 2011.

This will be done in two phases:

• Phase 1a - 276 bedrooms
• Phase 1b - 70 bedrooms

The building layout

The campus is located on the west side of Oxford, adjacent to rural open land, and has been designed to take account of views of local residents in respect of height, massing and impact on the surrounding area. The new development will comprise predominantly 6-bed cluster flats with some small flats for couples; there will be two blocks to allow separate accommodation for postgraduates. The development has a degree of future proofing as there is space for an additional block to be added which can be configured differently if required.

Design

The design of the building and its appearance, together with sustainability measures including a green sedum roof and rain water collection systems, are in line with the environmental aims espoused by the Gipsy Lane Masterplan Development with the high level of quality seen in the design of the New Student Centre Building and associated developments.

Experience from similar new hall developments (including Cheney and Clive Booth) indicate that there is a high level of demand for such accommodation. The Hospitality Division, which will manage this new development, has considerable experience managing Halls of Residences for Oxford Brookes University. The Division is confident that the Harcourt Hill development will prove extremely popular with students.

Sustainability

The new development will have sustainability measures including;

• a green roof
• rain water collection systems

The building design offers a ‘very good’ BREEAM rating.

By providing new residential units of a good standard at Harcourt Hill the development will avoid the need for students based on that campus to seek accommodation elsewhere and thereby avoid increasing reliance on modes of transport other than bicycle and foot.