Clive Booth Student Village

Redevelopment of Clive Booth Student Village (May 2025 update)

Planning permission was granted by Oxford City Council’s Planning Review Committee for the redevelopment of Clive Booth Student Village in November 2021. Construction work for the redevelopment began in March 2022.

The Elm Building was the first new building opened as part of the redevelopment and welcomed its first residents in January 2024.The new Fir and Damson buildings opened their doors to Oxford Brookes students for the start of the 2024/25 academic year. A Nisa retail outlet, located in the Fir building, is due to open during summer 2025.

The project is providing an increased number of high-quality rooms for students within the University’s estate, close to the Headington Campus. This will also help to reduce the number of students living in private rented accommodation and support efforts to manage local housing demand.

The University will ensure that disruption is kept to a minimum while work is taking place and will continue to engage with students, staff and the local community. Latest information on the redevelopment taking place can be found on the works updates webpage.

Exteriors of new buildings at the Clive Booth Student Village site

What is Clive Booth Student Village?

Clive Booth Student Village is an existing student accommodation site, close to Marston Road in East Oxford.

It is located on land owned by Oxford Brookes, is managed by the University and is currently home to around 1,300 students.

This includes students who are training to be nurses, paramedics, allied healthcare professionals and teachers, many of whom will work across the county during placements and after graduating.

Information on living at Clive Booth Student Village can be found on our Accommodation webpages.

Why is the University redeveloping Clive Booth Student Village?

A number of the buildings on the site were approaching 30 years old. There was a need to redevelop the accommodation so that living arrangements continue to be of a high quality for our students and we can improve and modernise the site.

The redevelopment of Clive Booth Student Village was recognised in the Oxford Local Plan 2036, which was adopted in June 2020. The Local Plan also sets a threshold for Oxford Brookes of allowing no more than 4,000 of its students to live outside of University-owned accommodation.

Providing rooms to students within the University’s estate is important in being able to meet this requirement.

New kitchen space at the redeveloped Clive Booth Student Village site

What are the benefits of redeveloping part of Clive Booth Student Village?

Redevelopment of the site will create a number of benefits, which include:

Helping to ensure a positive student experience by providing high-quality rooms, enhanced indoor social spaces and an improved range of accommodation options across our residences to suit affordability and personal living preferences.
Helping to reduce pressure on local housing supply by allowing for greater numbers of students to live within student accommodation on existing University land, close to the Headington Campus, as an alternative to private rental properties in the community.
Helping to reduce pressure on local transport systems as students travelling to the Headington Campus will be able to walk or cycle, rather than using local bus services.
Helping to reduce the number of cars in Oxford as the University stipulates that any student living in halls of residence is not permitted to bring a vehicle to Oxford.

Timescales

November 2021:

Planning permission granted by Oxford City Council.

March 2022:

Construction work began to redevelop the site. Latest information on the redevelopment taking place can be found on the Works Updates webpage.

2023-24 and 2024-25 academic years:

The Elm Building was the first new building opened as part of the redevelopment and welcomed its first residents in January 2024. The new Fir and Damson buildings became home to Oxford Brookes students from the 2024/25 academic year.

Further information on the next phases of the redevelopment of Clive Booth Student Village will be added to these webpages in due course.

Development of a new Woodland trail

Alongside the redevelopment of part of Clive Booth Student Village, the University was also granted planning permission in January 2022 to enable improvements to the footpath that connects the accommodation to our Headington Hill site.

The overall intention is to provide a much improved pedestrian link in this area which will improve access for not only students and staff but also the local community. We are calling this development the Woodland Trail

The University does not own Cuckoo Lane, which bisects the campus and the accommodation site, and Oxfordshire County Council will assess any improvements to the lane separately.

Further information on when the Woodland Trail work is set to take place will be added to this webpage once confirmed.