Green light for Radcliffe Observatory Quarter plans

Plans for a major education development in Oxford’s Radcliffe Observatory Quarter – which will include a 500-seat concert hall and lecture theatres – have been backed. The development is considered to be “a major step forward for the city”.The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford is behind the proposals, which concern a plot on Woodstock Road.Lined up is a Humanities Building which will cover four storeys and bring together seven faculties, two institutes and several libraries.Included in the building will be a 500-seat concert hall, a 250-seat theatre, an 89-seat lecture and film screening facility, a school engagement centre and café, and a Bate collection of musical instruments.There will also be enhanced facilities for learning, teaching and research.The proposals are expected to yield a range of economic benefits both in the shorter-term during construction, as well as longer term in the operational stage. A member of Oxford City Council’s planning committee noted that the scheme would be “a major step forward for the city”.There would also be other benefits which are “more difficult to quantify” such as the creation of a collaborative work and lecture space, where departments can work together and further strengthen the academic work that Oxford University carries out, and “how that feeds in to the larger academic research and findings that come from the work undertaken”.The proposals had been recommended for approval, with a unanimous decision having now been made.