The new graduate housing at Court Place Gardens won a plaque in the New Buildings category, while work on the flooring in the Museum of Natural History, accompanied by improvements to accessibility, was highly commended in Building Conservation.
Court Place Gardens was one of the first projects delivered under the University’s joint venture with Legal & General. Managed by Oxford University Development (OUD), it replaced 36 1970s houses that had reached the end of their usable lives. In their place it has created 71 new homes that are vastly more comfortable, pleasant and sustainable, plus another 13 refurbished study bedrooms in the Mansion House.
Graduate students and their families have now moved into many of these after the site officially opened earlier this year. (Postgraduates who want to know more should consult the Graduate Accommodation website.)
The new homes are light-filled and spacious, using thick insulation and energy-efficient design to stay comfortable all year round with limited energy inputs. They rely on heat pumps rather than gas boilers for heating and hot water.
The judges praised the way the development’s integration with the surrounding landscape, with homes set around quadrangles that provide communal spaces to relax and socialise. The site’s green spaces also benefit the wider community, with wildlife-friendly planting to improve biodiversity and a built-in sustainable drainage system that absorbs runoff to reduce both flood risk and the need for watering in summer.
The project in the Museum reversed intrusive modern changes, removing shabby carpet tiles in the central court to reveal the original Victorian geometric stone tiling as well as replacing unsympathetic modern handrails on stairs.
The team’s painstaking conservation work on the tiles has transformed the experience of the Museum’s roughly 800,000 annual visitors as they enter and move into the building.
The court’s unique geometric stone tile floor is bordered with white stone, interspersed with decorative metal grilles designed to provide natural ventilation. The carpet tiles did not just obscure the floor’s beauty; by blocking the grilles, they also accelerated the decay of the sub-structure beneath, increasing temperatures and so de-stablising the lime mortar and brickwork.
Estates Services staff and contractors carefully removed the carpet, testing various specialist cleaning products to find the best option for removing the thick layers of glue and grime beneath without harming the floor itself.
They also carefully remove the tiles in places so they could repair several of the brick piers supporting them – these had started to fail, causing noticeable depressions and spreading instability.
Their work has reversed this deterioration and revealed the tiles’ striking pink, white and black colours for the first time in many years, providing yet another example of the fine craftmanship seen throughout this Victorian Gothic architectural gem.
The project’s second phase replaced utilitarian stainless steel handrails on the Museum’s two main staircases. The team worked with local craftsmen at Cobalt Blacksmith to design and manufacture a replacement that’s more in keeping with the museum’s design.
The new handrails are forged from blackened steel and hand-finished with beeswax that protects the metal and gives it a soft sheen. Each rail twists elegantly to follow each staircases’ irregular curves, incorporating botanical motifs and organic curves to join in the Museum’s architectural celebration of the natural world.
Congratulations to everyone involved in both projects.
