Consultation on £10m Standingford House redevelopment in Oxford

A consultation on the proposals to demolish Standingford House, in Cave Street, closes later this month.

The £9.7 million plans were agreed by Oxford City Council’s cabinet in November, with draft designs created prior to submission of a planning application at the St Clement’s site.

Standingford House is set to be torn down, and its place will be a ‘flexible and accessible new workspace’.

READ ALSO: New council chair to visit county traveller sites in one of first acts

The building itself was constructed in the 1960s, and is owned and managed by the city council.

It is currently home to 14 businesses and organisations, with the council saying the building is ‘in need of both repair and modernisation to meet current and future efficiency standards’.

Illustrative view of the proposed development from Cave Street. Picture: Oxford City Council

A council statement adds: “It also has poor accessibility, with no wheelchair provision and no lift access.

“The city council investigated a range of options, including refurbishing the existing building.

“The building is now at the end of its life and redeveloping the site is the best use of funds as well as providing the right space to meet the needs of modern businesses and offers the opportunity to provide more than double the existing area of workspace.”

The current two-storey building will become a three-storey one, with the council aiming to submit a planning application following the consultation, which runs until May 28.

Illustrative view of the proposed development from Cave Street, looking towards St Clement's. Picture: Oxford City Council

Preparatory work is set to start this summer, including stripping out works.

The main work is expected to start on the site at the end of the year, to be completed in summer 2024.

City council leader, Susan Brown, said: “The redevelopment of the Cave Street site will provide a new modern, flexible, accessible and energy-efficient office space, alongside new tree planting and other landscaping.

“The building will include space at affordable rates to provide start-up business space for Oxford’s entrepreneurs.

“The views of local people matter and will be included as part of the planning application, as the information gathered from residents will be used in the Statement of Community Consultation.”

Standingford House in Cave Street. Picture: Google Maps

The Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (OxLEP) secured £1.13 million of investment towards the project via the Government’s Local Growth Fund.

OxLEP was handed £118.4 million in the first two rounds of funding, announced in July 2014 and January 2015.

In February 2017, OxLEP was awarded £24.1 million during the third round of funding.

For more information on the Standingford House consultation, visit: consultation.oxford.gov.uk/regeneration-economy/cave-street

Read more from this author

This story was written by Liam Rice, he joined the team in 2019 as a multimedia reporter.

Liam covers politics, travel and transport. He occasionally covers Oxford United.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Liam.rice@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter @OxMailLiamRice

A message from our Editor

Thank you for reading this story and supporting the Oxford Mail.

If you like what we do please consider getting a subscription for the Oxford Mail and in return we’ll give you unrestricted access with less adverts across our website from the latest news, investigations, features, and sport.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tik Tok for more. 

You can also join the conversation in our Facebook groups: stay ahead of traffic alerts here, keep up to date with the latest from court here, share your favourite memories of Oxford here, get your daily dose of celebrity news here and take some time out with news that will make you smile. 

If you’ve got a story for our reporters, send us your news here. You can also list an event for free here.