St. Cross College’s £10m new building falling apart after only three years

Charlotte Lai reports.

St. Cross College’s “innovative” West Wing Building started falling apart soon after it was completed and is now closed for a multi-millionpound refurbishment. The development initially cost £10m and was funded by college members and the university as part of St. Cross’s 50th anniversary.

It hoped to be a “remarkable” new building, providing St Cross graduate students with a new lecture theatre and library, more seminar rooms, and 53 student bedrooms. The building plan was described by an English Heritage inspector as “ingenious and successful”.

However, soon after its opening in 2019, cracks and veining began to show on the window surrounds. According to the planning documents submitted to the council, there was a “rapid deterioration” in a significant proportion of the window panels.

Upon further investigation, building specialists have stated that the issues are “irreparable”. They discovered flaws throughout the manufacturing process. St. Cross College has subsequently been forced to close the building. The refurbishment required is projected to cost millions of pounds and is due to be completed in late 2023.

In response to reports about the deterioration of the West Wing Building, a postgraduate student at the university commented that one should “stick with the tried and true and ditch ‘innovative’ designs.” He gestured to Pusey House, situated next to the West Wing Building, and “still going strong 100 years later” from the date of its unveiling in the 20th century.

The construction of the West Wing Building has been controversial from the outset. Its location beside Pusey House, hailed as one of Oxford’s finest examples of Gothic architecture by Harry Stuart Goodhart-Rendel, former president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, sparked complaint from Oxfordshire Architectural and History Society.

They described the West Wing Building as “an overbearing and utterly incongruous neighbour” for Pusey House.

Similarly, the Victorian Society objected to the plans for the building, feeling that it would “adversely affect the setting of the Grade II-listed college chapel.”

They felt that the buildings were “busy, blocky, and assertive,” “inappropriate to what should be a tranquil environment.”

Oxford City Council rejected the plan based on the feeling that the St. Cross building would have what they described as an “unacceptable impact on the special character and appearance of the