March 2014

Headington Headlines #156

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 24 – 30 March, a rather short one this week.

The new Friends of Headington Hill Park held their inaugural meeting on Wednesday.

Headington Quarry Morris Dancers joined twitter @HeadingtonQMD

There were two open consultation sessions on Oxford University’s Old Road Campus plans.

Police made three arrests in Risinghurst and Barton during an anti-drug operation. They also discovered a cannabis farm.

David Cameron visited the JR on Friday, and then was caught on camera in Starbucks by @ian_duke

@CultivateOxford‘s VegVan took up what is to be its regular position outside Barclays Bank on Saturday. They will be there every Saturday from 10 to 4.

Active topics on the Headington & Marston e-democracy forum this week:

  • Consultation on Tesco applications end on Tuesday
  • Headington Neighbourhood Planning
  • Headington Hill Park Friends inaugural meeting tomorrow 6pm
  • Headington Hill Park Friends – 1st meeting TONIGHT!!! 6pm
  • Traffic Scheme at The Plain
  • Multi-storey car park at Old Road campus
I cover news from the OX3 postcode in Headington and out as far as Barton, Sandhills and Risinghurst (see map). To feed into next week’s summary you can comment on this article, or tweet either with the hashtag #ox3 or @mentioning @TonyOX3.

Headington Headlines #155

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 17 – 23 March.

Birmingham City Council voted to close the Stansfeld Centre. Friends of Quarry are said to be thinking about trying to register it as an Asset of Community Value. A new twitter account @SaveStansfeld has been set up to support the campaign to find a solution and keep the Centre open, but has yet to get going.

Three buildings in OX3 have been shortlisted in the South Region of the RIBA architectural awards 2014. I blogged about them.

A fallen tree blocked the path from Quarry Road to Holy Trinity church.

The Britannia re-opened after its refurbishment.

Christopher Gray of The Oxford Mail visited @JacobsChopHouse on a busy evening. There were problems with availability, it seems, but overall he liked it.

Headington Neighbourhood Forum @HeadingtonPlan has published 2011 Census profiles of Headington on its website. There’s a wealth of detail for anyone interested in exploring the data.

Two men have been arrested in connection with the robbery at Stan James Bookmakers at The Roundway last week.

@HeadingtonNews explains on the e-democracy forum why the old Trade Exchange shop is very unlikely to become a Southern Fried Chicken.

My favourite Headington-related tweet of the week:

Active topics on the Headington & Marston e-democracy forum this week:

  • Meaden Hill
  • Cherwell drive slip road
  • Old Road/Park Hospital campus: Consultation on two proposed new buildings
  • Trade Exchange
  • Consultation on Tesco applications end on Tuesday
I cover news from the OX3 postcode in Headington and out as far as Barton, Sandhills and Risinghurst (see map). To feed into next week’s summary you can comment on this article, or tweet either with the hashtag #ox3 or @mentioning @TonyOX3.

Architecture Awards – three buildings shortlisted

TonyOX3

In the architectural world the RIBA Awards are the equivalent of the British BAFTAs to the Chicago Athenaeum’s International Awards Oscars. For the RIBA awards, regional shortlists are whittled down to a national shortlist from which the eventual winner is selected.

Oxford is in RIBA’s South region and the regional shortlist has just been published. That there are three buildings in Headington on the list, all in the education/research sector, is confirmation of how important these institutions are to the local economy.

The Isis building by West Waddy ADP for EF International in Pullens Lane is phase 3 of a project which has provided a new main entrance to the campus, improvements to the administration and dining facilities, and the provision of a new lecture theatre for students on site.

Design Engine Architects‘ John Henry Brookes building will be familiar to many of us, even though the builders are still on site. It includes a new library, lecture theatres, student services centre, teaching acommodation and commercial/retail space. Perhaps because the work isn’t quite complete the best picture I could find is the original artist’s impression.
The Nuffield Department of Medicine Research Building is part of Oxford University’s Old Road Campus. Architects Make Architects have previously delivered the Old Road Campus Research Building and the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, which seems to make them the University’s go-to architects for the medical research sector. The new Nuffield building is an integrated, multi-disciplinary research centre which links biological science with medical application. The building has been designed to form the ‘head’ of the campus and create a strong presence for the department.
Pictures gratefully taken with acknowledgements from the individual architectural practices’ web sites.