OXFORD

1 The long-awaited deal for the new £400m Westgate Centre was signed this month. John Lewis’ three-storey store will provide the centrepiece of the new development, which will create 2,650 jobs and will also include a cinema. A planning application is to be submitted this autumn, with building work due to start next year for a Christmas 2017 opening.

2 A state-of-the-art building housing 600 workers from British Gas Business was completed in January. The 81,740 sq ft premises feature a 200-seater restaurant, 101-space cycle park and the latest green technology. The building was recently put up for sale at £28.9m, and British Gas has taken it on a 17-year lease, paying £1.83m a year in rent.

3 Two warehouses in Garsington Road, operated by logistics giant Unipart, have been put on the market this year for £37m. The buildings, which stretch to 935,939 sq ft, are owned by a private investor who wants to sell up in one of the biggest potential property deals in the city for years.

4 Plans were put forward in January for a £100m redevelopment of the West Way shopping centre, Botley. Buildings to be flattened will include Botley Library, Botley Baptist Church and Seacourt Hall. Developers Doric Properties say they will be replaced by buildings including a cinema, large supermarket, church and community hall along with a new car park.

5 Work on the £15m regeneration of the Seacourt retail park will begin this summer. It will create more than 5,000 sq m of extra floor space in 10 new units. Phase one will be to divide the former Habitat and Allied Carpets unit into four in time for an autumn 2014 opening.

6 Oxford University has been behind several major projects in and around the Jericho area. Last year a new £11.5m health centre was opened on the site of the former Radcliffe Infirmary with three GP surgeries. The building is also home to the university’s department of public health. The former Radcliffe Infirmary has been completely refurbished as part of the university’s £220m renovation of the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter.

7 Plans have also been put forward for the £30m five-storey Blavatnik School of Government on part of the former Radcliffe Infirmary site in Walton Street, sparking local opposition. Opponents say the 22-metre-high building in Walton Street exceeds the height limit introduced by the city council to protect Oxford’s famous skyline.

ABINGDON

8 Work on the £4.5m revamp of the town’s shopping precinct was completed at the end of last year. Two new two-storey shops have been created out of five of the old smaller units with phases two and three scheduled for this year. They will see the surgery and library behind the precinct replaced with a supermarket.

9 Plans are now in place for the £5m revamp of Fairacres out-of-town shopping development. Mays Properties is behind the scheme for four extra units and a restaurant or cafe, creating 50 jobs. The current Homebase and Vineys furniture store will be demolished. Likely new shops are thought to include DFS, Oak Furniture Land and Dunelm Mills, although work is not due to start until 2018.

10 The Old Gaol redevelopment is due to finish this year with work carrying on throughout the recession. The £25m development of the Grade II-listed landmark site began in 2010, to create 61 homes, restaurants and an underground car park.

DIDCOT

11 Developer Taylor Wimpey is building more than 3,000 homes on land off the A4130, as part of 10,000 dwellings to be built in the area by 2026. Great Western Park represents a £60m investment and will span 440 acres of land and is a 10-year project.

12 Work on two major new buildings is under way offering Grade A office accommodation for up to 500 staff as part of a £15m investment. The buildings at 101 and 102 Park Drive are part of the Science Vale Enterprise Zone.

HARWELL

13 A £20m hi-tech lab to research industrial diamond synthesis is now done.

14 Work is due to start on the new European Space Agency (ESA) building shortly.

BICESTER

15 The £70m town centre redevelopment is on target to open in July. It includes a Sainsbury’s supermarket, Vue cinema, shops and restaurants, a 500-space car park and new bus interchange.

16 The Government has approved multi-million pound plans to expand Bicester Village into the site of the existing Tesco store and build a new store for the supermarket giant nearby along with a proposed new business park. As well as expanding Bicester Village by 28 new shops, the plans include £11m in road improvements on the A41, Oxford Road and Pingle Drive in a move that would cut chronic congestion at peak times, and will pave the way for a new business park at the site, expected to create 3,000 jobs.

17 Work on Bicester’s long fought-for new £5m community hospital will start in June.

18 Construction of Bicester’s 5,000- home eco town is set to start in the autumn. Developer A2 Dominion has planning approval to build 393 eco homes, a pub, business centre and shops.

19 Countryside Properties has revealed proposals for the second phase of its development at former farmland off Oxford and Middleton Stoney roads. Altogether there will be 1,585 new homes, a primary school, sports land and a community wood.

WITNEY

20 The £50m Marriotts Walk shopping centre created 350 new jobs after being opened in 2009 as the downturn worsened. It includes Marks & Spencer, New Look, and Debenhams, a 590-space multi-storey car park and a multi-screen cinema.

21 Councillors backed a 1,000-home site at West Witney between Downs Road and Deer Park Road late last year. The 73-hectare site will include 1,000 homes, a 10-hectare employment area, playing fields, pedestrian and cycle links to the town centre.

BANBURY

22 In 2011 motorsport firm Prodrive announced it would be relocating to the former Hella factory in Southam Road, with its existing Acorn Way site becoming a retail park anchored by a Marks & Spencer store. A total of 750 jobs are set to be created.

23 Hi-tech firm Goodrich CTG opened a new £14m centre of excellence in Chalker Way with the move set to be completed in June. It will be home to 200 staff with a further 150 jobs set to be created.

24 Plans have been unveiled to extend the Castle Quay shopping centre with a hotel, cinema, shops, bars and restaurants, creating up to 500 full-time and 1,000 part-time roles.