{"id":313472,"date":"2025-12-13T06:56:19","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T06:56:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/313472\/"},"modified":"2025-12-13T06:56:19","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T06:56:19","slug":"walters-cohen-gets-go-ahead-for-science-facility-at-oxford-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/313472\/","title":{"rendered":"Walters &#038; Cohen gets go-ahead for science facility at Oxford school"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The project aims to create a \u2018sector-leading\u2019 science facility at the private day school, which was founded in 1480 and takes students aged seven to 18. It will support study in the fields of robotics, AI and data.<\/p>\n<p>The proposal will entail demolishing existing science buildings in Iffley Road, and partially demolishing the Quinn and 1928 buildings. The 1928 building is considered a non-designated heritage asset, described by the planning officer as of \u2018some architectural interest\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>However, they concluded that the loss of the block had been \u2018carefully justified\u2019 in the report, which recommended the application for approval.<\/p>\n<p>The development will house new labs, a library and an exhibition space, as well as landscaping and conservation zones on the site\u2019s grounds.\u00a0The school says the development will use the \u2018latest in sustainable construction techniques\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>A \u2018partnership lab\u2019 is also planned, intended to host children from state schools in Oxford, giving them access to the new facilities.<\/p>\n<p>The design of the scheme centres around a main gatehouse, surrounded by the science labs, which are \u2018arranged in the manner of townhouses\u2019, the like of which face the site on the opposite side of the street. The fa\u00e7ade will step down along Iffley Road and around the existing trees.<\/p>\n<p>Walters and Cohen told the AJ: \u2018The elevation along Iffley Road takes its cue from Oxford vernacular and includes chimneys, a framed student entrance giving views into the school and articulated brickwork picking up the rhythm of the buildings across the street.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>The practice described the buildings slated for demolition as \u2018no longer fit for purpose\u2019 and said they \u2018could not be refurbished to meet modern standards\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>School master Helen Pike said that the new site would \u2018stand as the centrepiece of our commitment to science partnership teaching, and create an environment in which future Nobel Prize winners and innovators can begin their careers.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Securing planning consent would not have been possible without the support of our design team, whose expertise and vision have helped us create a building of which we can all be proud.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>The school aims to have the new facilities up and running by 2030.<\/p>\n<p>Project data<\/p>\n<p>Location Magdalen College School, Oxford<br \/>Local authority Oxford City Council<br \/>Type of project Education<br \/>Client Magdalen College School<br \/>Architect Walters &amp; Cohen Architects<br \/>Landscape architect Guillaume Baltz landscape + garden design<br \/>Planning consultant Bidwells<br \/>Structural engineer Price &amp; Myers<br \/>M&amp;E consultant Max Fordham<br \/>Quantity surveyor Holloway Squire<br \/>Planning application reference 25\/02092\/FUL<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-809849\" class=\"size-large wp-image-809849\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Walters-and-cohen-before-plans-left-and-after-right1-1024x475.webp.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"620\" height=\"288\"  \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-809849\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Existing site plan (left); proposed site plan (right)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The project aims to create a \u2018sector-leading\u2019 science facility at the private day school, which was founded in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313473,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-313472","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-design","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}