A £150 MILLION university building will bring world-class concert performers to Oxford after it was given the green light by city planners.
Oxford City Council’s planning committee unanimously approved the Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, which will be built at the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter in Woodstock Road.
The building will be home to a 500-seat concert hall and 250-seat theatre – in addition to bringing together seven faculties, two institutes and several libraries – at the former Radcliffe Infirmary Hospital, which closed in 2007.
The site is currently being used as a temporary car park and Covid-19 testing unit.
Read again: Sir Philip Pullman backs new University of Oxford building where stories were set
At the council meeting, there were no public speakers against the application.
William Whyte, professor of architectural history at the University of Oxford, spoke on behalf of the applicant and told councillors the building is ‘one of the most exciting building projects the university has ever undertaken’.
He added: “The building will provide a series of state of the art performance and exhibition spaces.
“What these are going to enable us to do is draw new talent, and important artists and performers, to Oxford for the first time.
“For the first time in its 800-year existence, this is a building built by the University of Oxford which is intended to be open to the public.
“Every other building was built to exclude but this is a building which will only work if we can attract people to the performance venues.”
Alex Hollingsworth, the city council’s cabinet member for planning and housing delivery, said: “It’s probably unique among any major scheme proposed by big institutions that there is not a single objection and that the OPT [Oxford Preservation Trust] is very largely in favour.
“I think it’s potentially a huge asset to the city and the ward I represent.”
The planning committee’s vice-chair Nigel Chapman added: “I’m particularly pleased for the performing arts element.
“This is a city which has quite a few venues for performing arts but arguably none of them are quite right.
“In relation to concert halls, there’s a shortage of you could argue, world-class concert halls in the city.
“A lot of the best performers don’t come to Oxford and I think this will fill a gap.
“For our schools to be able to get access to this place will enhance the quality of lives of young people, way beyond the students who happen to be at the university at the time.”
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In approving the application, the council agreed to delegate authority to the head of planning services to finalise recommended conditions.
The centre has been made possible by a £150 million donation to the university from Stephen Schwarzman – a friend of Donald Trump – who is reportedly worth more than £25 billion.
Author Sir Philip Pullman set the His Dark Material trilogy in Oxford, with the fictional Jordan College on the site of the Schwarzman Centre.
In June, he backed the centre, saying: “The Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities will be an exciting and distinguished addition to the architecture of this beautiful city, and what it embodies about the central place of humanities in the world of learning needs demonstrating now more than ever.
“I look forward to seeing it flourish.”
In addition to the concert hall and theatre, the building will also include an 89-seat lecture and film screening facility, a school engagement centre, and a Bate collection of musical instruments and library.
A council report stated: “The 500-seat hall has been designed to provide world-class acoustics for performances by ensembles and chamber orchestras of up to 60 musicians and would also be suitable for small symphony orchestras.
“The 250-seat lecture theatre would be used for large lectures during term-time, but would also be able to accommodate not only student-led dramatic performances but also professional plays and theatre.”
An Oxford Preservation Trust (OPT) consultee response read: “This development is an individual high-quality building on a surprising scale, which is intended to have its own individual architectural merit.
“It needs to be sensitive to the setting of some of Oxford’s foremost historic buildings, most notably the Grade I Radcliffe Observatory, and sits amongst several substantial and impressive new buildings which have yet to come together to create a place of character and a cohesive whole.
“OPT are fully supportive of the new humanities building and welcome the introduction of these new uses aimed at creating a place which draws people in, rather than keeping them out, as so many college and university buildings and sites can do.”
The university held two public consultations on the building – during November and December 2020, and in June and July of last year.
The application can be viewed on the city council’s planning portal, using the reference number 21/03057/FUL.
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