This project forms part of the first phase of developments carried out by Oxford City Council’s newly formed housing company. The former homeless hostel site will be redeveloped to provide 36 new 1, 2, and 3 bed apartments on a prominent corner site located near the City Centre. The new apartment building will deliver both social rented and private sale homes in a new tenure blind building featuring a shared private entrance courtyard for all residents with new tree planting, seating and secure play for younger children.
The building re-interprets the distinctive local character of the ‘walled garden or quad’ in the surrounding college buildings with a new perimeter wall which forms an integral part of the building, featuring decorative brickwork and a range of openings forming controlled views through to the new landscaped area behind. The scheme is also designed to respond sensitively to its historic context, located next to a Grade II listed Chapel, and partially builds over the remains of a Medieval monastery discovered during extensive archaeological investigations on site during the development of the scheme. Brickwork detailing and bespoke paving featuring motifs linked to the former Monastery further reinforce the historic context of the site in the new building.
Transforming a former homeless hostel site into new homes for Oxford City Council