Oxford Question Time: Does Oxford have an identity crisis? While the city is undeniably a global brand for its academic reputation, history and architecture, a growing workforce inhibited by poor infrastructure and housing shortages is challenging growth potential.
With the city now at a crossroads, panellists speaking at EG’s Question Time event at Oxford Town Hall last week cautioned that public and private investment into Oxford would only happen if it could decide what it wants to offer.
Steven Sensecall, head of planning at Carter Jonas, suggested the region’s unique selling point should be its reputation as a centre for innovation and technology.
“Oxford needs to decide what it is. It can’t be all things to all men,” he said. “We have to be more focused in what Oxford’s role is in the broader country and make sure we are putting infrastructure and housing in the right areas. The green belt has a part to play but the inner belt of green belt is largely sacrosanct – we have to protect Oxford ‘the place’.”
John Miu, chief operating office at ABP, agreed. While some delegates thought the government pledge to create a high-speed rail link between Oxford and Cambridge could be a game changer for the city, Miu thought that the message should be about what Oxford itself had to offer.
He said while infrastructure was needed, Oxford had to produce a more detailed proposal about what people should be investing in: “From the perspective of people outside the UK, it is already a place which produces the best brains in the world. But there needs to be something tangible on the table to get better transport investment for Oxford itself.”
He added that office rents in Oxford were high at £32 per sq ft. “Why does Oxford need more grade A offices? I have always believed London is the capital where business takes place; I believe Oxford is more known for its research and science parks.”
Managing director of Oxford Science Park, Piers Scrimshaw-Wright, expanded: “A lot of the businesses I am talking to outside the county are more interested in how they can leverage the knowledge ecosystem and the by-products. A lot of it is advocating the knowledge economy – clever people doing clever things.”
“It is almost ours to lose,” warned Richard Byard, director of the Oxford Local Enterprise Partnership. “It is for us to lobby government and make a compelling case. We’ve got to get our list of schemes and look at it from a total place perspective. If we can articulate the vision and requirements we are pushing at an open door.”
Lack of housing
A lack of housing is the key challenge to maintaining good levels of staff retention in the city, according to Scrimshaw-Wright. He said: “The commercial market is very buoyant at the moment and the danger is that the residential element and the infrastructural developments which would come from that commercial demand lag.
“One of the things that has been a challenge historically has been the lack of venture capital support. That has changed very rapidly in the last two years. Many of these SMEs have assembled good management and are commercialising their intellectual property.
“So, there is a real snowball effect which is ultimately translating into real estate demand, both commercial but also housing because these workers need somewhere to live. The challenge is then can they find somewhere affordable? Very central Oxford the affordability index is so skewed; you do need to look outside the city boundary.”
Height and density
Ongoing concerns about the pressure to build more commercial and residential developments in Oxford have sparked passionate debates about height and density.
The question remains whether pressure to build upwards would render Oxford’s “dreaming spires” reputation obsolete.
Scrimshaw-Wright said that developing high-rise could be done sensitively and compared the criticisms to opposition to height in London.
But when the audience was polled less than 10% thought that there was scope for similar projects in Oxford, with most of the panel ardently against it.
Sensecall said: “It’s a scale issue. London is a large place. Here, dreaming spires should take precedent. I wouldn’t want to see a new high rise culture. Even if you try and push it to the outer parts. The views out of the city are as important as the views in. I don’t think there is a place for high buildings in Oxford. There is perhaps a place for new institutional buildings in the city which are at the higher end but as a general proposition residential tower blocks are not appropriate.”
Miu added: “It’s about doing things in the right place. Don’t destroy the brand. Whether it is a good design or a bad one, someone will have an opposite opinion.
“I don’t believe oxford is destined for high rise – you don’t want one building to capture the whole focus of Oxford because it is so beautiful.”
