A tree planting ceremony has marked the end of structural work on two buildings at Begbroke Science Park.

The new buildings are expected to be handed over by builders Mace early next year, providing around 12,500 square metres of office and lab space.

Once complete, they will almost double the Oxfordshire science park’s useable internal space. One of the buildings will be occupied by academics from the University of Oxford, while the other will house private sector researchers.

Oxford University vice-chancellor Irene Tracey helped plant a black tupelo tree at the site last week, marking the construction milestone.

Prof Tracey said: “These two new buildings will provide a fantastic new setting for science, collaboration and knowledge-sharing, creating new jobs and supporting the growth of Oxford’s flourishing innovation economy.”

But her comments came as Oxford was expected to be pipped by Cambridge in the world rankings of top 'science and technology clusters’.

While the World Intellectual Property Organisation’s (WIPO) Global Innovation Index ranked Japan’s Tokyo-Yokohama ‘cluster’ in the top spot by size, Cambridge topped the list of clusters with the most intensive science and technology activity in proportion to local population density. Oxford was third - after San Francisco - followed by Eindhoven in the Netherlands and Boston-Cambridge in the US.

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The index, which will be published in full later this week, is calculated by analysing patents filed and the number of scientific articles published by organisations and researchers in each area.

WIPO director general Daren Tang said: “By bringing science, businesses and entrepreneurs together, these cities or regions are able to build an ecosystem that translates scientific ideas into on-the-ground impact.”