Context 166 - November 2020

C O N T E X T 1 6 6 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 0 15 Oxford Iffley Road, by architects Allies and Morrison, shows how early engagement with the planning team, and ultimately great design, can meet the needs of the applicant, while responding to its context within the setting of a conservation area. A run of elegant two-plus-storey gables was achieved after careful analysis to understand the rhythm, scale and massing of surrounding buildings. Our work with Ruskin College on Walton Street is another example of a building of herit- age significance that both surprises and delights, following the insertion of an organic, curvaceous roof. Architect Alison Brooks’ scheme creates an exciting juxtaposition of new and old, while working with the grain of the tight, domestic character of Jericho. At a broader, city-centre scale, we will soon publish a vision and action plan that will directly respond to place-based challenges we face as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. As part of the initial pandemic recovery phase, we have helped transform many locations with outdoor tables and chairs, and pedestrianising streets, so visitors can safely enjoy our city.With so much more outdoor seating, the city has taken on a totally different feel this summer, as businesses rally in the face of continuing adversity. Longer-term, we need to create more accessible civic and green spaces and make the case for more investment in more of our public realm. At its heart, this is about creating and evolving the city centre to be more people focused.This will require another substantial shift in terms of re-prioritising road space, supporting better public transport and encouraging more people to walk, cycle and dwell. As such, while the narrow medieval street pattern of the city centre is a huge asset in so many respects, it limits our ability to promote a fast and efficient public transport system, and appropriate walking and cycling provision. This, and too many private vehicles cutting through the city centre, results in congestion and poor air quality, which impacts on the health of our planet and our citizens, constrains our economic growth, and is detrimental to the setting of our historic environment. We therefore need fewer car movements in the city, and to encourage those we do have to be cleaner.We are working closely with Oxfordshire County Council on two integrated proposals to reduce emissions and reduce traffic congestion. The first is a zero-emission zone, a congestion charge focused on the city centre to encourage cleaner vehicles. This would sit alongside plans called ‘Connecting Oxford’, aimed at reducing traffic and improving bus services. Here we are proposing to create bus-only access on key streets in the centre and east of the city, and a workplace parking levy to subsidise new bus connectivity. In delivering these plans we are following cities such as Ghent, which has reduced car use and increased levels of walking, cycling and use of public transport. Our plan is also to make the city centre more relevant and accessible to a wider range of Oxford’s communities, as well as those who wish to visit. The Grade II Covered Market, the jewel in the crown of the city centre’s attractions, is a key to that. It has suffered disproportionately during the pandemic and, like the city itself, it needs to adapt to thrive. As owner and landlord, the city council has recently appointed architects Gort Scott to help us develop a long-term invest- ment plan. This should see a celebration of the market as the heart of the city centre, and attract- ing a wider demographic, through improvements to its entrances, individual units and communal space, to support a market that opens later into the evening, and with an even more diverse mix of shops, restaurants and events. Like many other places, the pandemic has underlined the need for us to create a more resilient city centre.With its reliance on students, visitors and public transport, the centre has been one of the slowest to recover across the UK. Part of our response must be about encouraging more people to live and work in the heart of Oxford, and growing and diversifying our economic base, alongside our existing strengths in the visitor economy and education sectors. These principles will sit at the core of our future plans for the west end of Oxford, which in effect will expand our city centre considerably over the next 10 years. The redevelopment of Oxford train station, including two new train lines, and the reopening of the Cowley branch line to reconnect the east of the city, are central to this regeneration plan. Working with fellow landowners Network Rail, the University of Oxford, Nuffield and Christ Church and the City of Oxford College, among others, the city council is working to turn the wider area of the city, and its current and former industrial land, into an innovation district of global significance. This should complement the central historic core, in both form and use, and provide the city centre with a much-needed critical mass of develop- ment to support its long-term future. What we do today needs to stand the test of time for the next few hundred years alongside the resilience of the existing historic built environ- ment. As place-makers our approach must be rooted in the city’s own unique identity, includ- ing its historic buildings. We need to conserve and protect, while ensuring that we do not simply create a pastiche of the past, and miss the opportunities to create a future legacy of excel- lent buildings and spaces, fit for purpose and full of the character of their own time. Tom Bridgman is executive director (development) at Oxford City Council.