The £40m Jesus College scheme to provide new shops and student accommodation in Oxford's Cornmarket is close to completion.

Work is well under way to remove the scaffolding from the Cornmarket façade of the college’s new Cheng Yu Tung Building, on the site of the old Northgate House.

The new building, which is due to be completed by the end of the year, has been named in honour of the father of one of the project’s major donors – Hong Kong entrepreneur and philanthropist Dr Henry Cheng, through his London-based property company Knight Dragon.

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Shoppers in Cornmarket can now see the four upper storeys of the building.

Three floors are being taken up with new postgraduate student accommodation, part of a total of 64 new ensuite rooms.

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The ground floor and first floor will be dedicated retail space and the college is currently in talks with a number of potential retail partners interested in moving in.

WH Smith and Boots the chemist are expected to remain.

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Work continues along Market Street on the Clipsham limestone cladding that will eventually envelope the whole building.

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Highly-skilled stonemasons are gradually working their way up the Market Street elevation to the Tower Room, soon to be home to a new events and exhibition space for the college.

Cladding work on the fourth quad, which will unite the historic and contemporary elements of the college, is already completed.

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Internally, a range of tradesmen – from plasterers and plumbers to electricians and carpet-layers – are on site as the fit-out progresses, overseen by the college’s construction partners BAM.

Work has also begun on the development of the new state-of-the-art NHS Primary Care Centre in the basement of the building.

The new medical centre, which will combine the surgeries of King Edward Street, 27 and 28 Beaumont Street, aims to improve primary care access and other healthcare services for 20,000 patients in the city.

The investment in centrally-located services will also help to reduce health inequalities in the city’s Carfax Ward, one of the most health-deprived in England, providing much-needed healthcare capacity for the ward’s 6,500 residents. Plans include 27 consulting and treatment rooms and a minor operations suite, plus space for mental health workers, physiotherapists, paramedics and clinical pharmacists. The new centre will open in spring 2022.

David Stevenson, Jesus College’s property director with responsibility for the Cheng Yu Tung Building development, said: “Despite the challenges of the past eighteen months, and subsequent pressures on workforce and suppliers that all such construction projects have faced, we are pleased that we have been able to continue work on the building throughout.

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"Now, as we move to the latter stages of the development, we are delighted that our architect’s vision is becoming a reality.”

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He added: “The Cheng Yu Tung Building will significantly enhance Cornmarket and the surrounding area, and the college is looking forward to announcing the first of its new retail tenants in due course.

"We are also looking forward to the completion of the new NHS centre, which will become a healthcare hub for the local community."

Building work is expected to be completed by the end of the year, with a formal opening ceremony in the spring of 2022.