Oxford Brookes University | Urban Design | Group 1
Innovation Quarter Innovation Quarter Our Innovation Quarter stretches across both sites, but its central hub is at Oxpens, close to the City of Oxford College and various Oxford University Colleges such as Nuffield College. In line with the UK Government’s Innovation Strategy and Oxford’s existing prowess in the field (i.e. Oxford Old Road campus), we envision our employment space to be a mix of flexible offices and lab space for the life science industry. The aim of these spaces are to provide a mix of permanent hubs and flexible co-working space to forward the knowledge economy. The flexible lab and office space in particular will allow for increased knowledge sharing and future innovation. They will be able to form a ‘Start-up Incubator’ for bio-tech similar to BioEscalator based on Oxford Old Road campus). Bio-design and bio-tech will be particular focuses of these labs, with opportunities to use the green roofs for productive use Lab Spaces The lab spaces will bring cutting edge research into the site and help to bring more domestic and international investment into the area, particularly in the life sciences sector. We will be providing two types of laboratory spaces, one being dry labs and the other being wet labs. Both are part of the same category of uses but have vastly different requirements and are involved in different areas of research and innovation.
Figure 6.7. Proposed facilities within innovation labs
Figure 6.8. Comparison between wet and dry labs
Figure 6.9. Innovative labs & office building that could be located on our site
Figure 6.10. Terraced houses with integrated flexible studio space
Work Spaces We will be providing two types of work spaces. One will be large offices available to rent by larger companies and corporations and will be located predominantly on the Oxpens site. These buildings will be 3-4 storeys and will be mixed use with retail and other uses occupying the ground floor to remain active. The second type of work spaces will be shared ones, due to the current mentality around working and being able to be flexible with your working hours and location. Integrated Studio Many of the residential townhouses would incorporate a flexible studio space to support local and independent business innovation. This would ensure that the amount of employment space within Osney would not be lacking, but would be integrated to support a more flexible, post-pandemic way of working. This would allow space for working, playing and living all within the same neighbourhood creating local communities. It would also support flexible and adaptable spaces within the home which are responsive to the future.
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