Masterplan for station and surrounding land to be worked up over the next year
5th Studio has been added to the design team for the mixed-use redevelopment of Oxford station and the surrounding area.
The practice will work alongside lead consultant Hawkins\Brown on the scheme, which is being developed for Network Rail and its property company Platform 4.
The project is still in early design stages but is set to include a modernised station and a wider masterplan for the adjacent surface car park on Becket Street.
Network Rail said the uses of new buildings will be determined over the next year but could include offices, life sciences, a hotel, housing and a cycle hub.
The project team is currently working up an initial Strategic Framework for the site which is expected to be published at the end of next year. This will be followed by the development of a full planning application.
Bidwells is also on the team as planning consultant with additional firms currently in the procurement process.
Around 24,000 passengers currently pass through Oxford station each day with peak passenger demand forecast to double in the next ten years as more sections of the East West Rail line open for service.
Network Rail’s brief for the new masterplan is calling for a high-quality station ready for future growth”, new entrances providing a welcoming gateway to the city and improved transport solutions for onward travel.
Hawkins\Brown associate director Anthony Lazarus said: “The passenger experience of Oxford station is not as welcoming as it could be as it deals with increasing demand. We look forward to simultaneously thinking wide and in the detail to transform this key transport interchange at the heart of Oxford’s West End.”
The scheme would be the second update to an earlier plan for the station and surrounding land drawn up by AHR in 2014, which would have seen the construction of a large station building with vaulted arches. Atkins was appointed in 2020 to redesign this scheme but the plans were not implemented.
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