View from the observatory towards Walton Street - geograph

The Mathematical Institute at Oxford University

The Radcliffe Observatory Quarter (ROQ) is a major

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

development project in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, in the estate of the old

Radcliffe Infirmary The Radcliffe Infirmary was a hospital in central north Oxford, England, located at the southern end of Woodstock Road on the western side, backing onto Walton Street. History The initial proposals to build a hospital in Oxford were put forw ...

hospital. The site, covering 10 acres (3.7 hectares) is in central north Oxford. It is bounded by

Observatory Street Observatory Street is a street in Oxford, England. It links at the eastern end Woodstock Road (opposite Bevington Road and St Anne's College and nearly opposite St Antony's College) in central North Oxford and at the western end Walton St ...

and

Green Templeton College Green Templeton College (GTC) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. The college is located on the previous Green College site on Woodstock Road next to the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter in North Oxford and ...

to the north, the Woodstock Road to the east,

Somerville College Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, ...

to the south, and Walton Street to the west. The project and the new university area is named after the

grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

Radcliffe Observatory Radcliffe Observatory was the astronomical observatory of the University of Oxford from 1773 until 1934, when the Radcliffe Trustees sold it and built a new observatory in Pretoria, South Africa. It is a Grade I listed building. Today, the ...

to the north east of the site, now the centrepiece of

, which is intended to form the visual centrepiece of the project.

History

In 2009,

planning permission Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building per ...

was granted by

Oxford City Council Oxford City Council is the lower-tier local government authority for the city of Oxford in England, providing such services as leisure centres and parking. Social Services, Education and Highways services (amongst others) are provided by Oxfor ...

for the refurbishment of the

grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

Radcliffe Infirmary (the oldest wing of the hospital) and the

grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

St Luke's Chapel and Outpatients Building, which flank the entrance courtyard. The Chapel is now deconsecrated and serves as a venue for events. Archaeological excavations were undertaken by the

Museum of London The Museum of London is a museum in London, covering the history of the UK's capital city from prehistoric to modern times. It was formed in 1976 by amalgamating collections previously held by the City Corporation at the Guildhall Museum (fou ...

. The remains of three

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

barrows and ring ditches were found, together with evidence of settlement in

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

times. New accommodation at

opened in September 2011. For 2012, the Radcliffe Infirmary is being refurbished for occupation by the Humanities Divisional Office, the Faculty of Philosophy, and the Philosophy and Theology Libraries. In June 2012,

New Radcliffe House New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

, by Walton Street on the ROQ development site, was completed by the construction company

Longcross Longcross is a village in the Borough of Runnymede in Surrey, England, approximately southwest of central London. Its name is thought to come from a marker, placed where the parish boundaries of Chertsey, Chobham and Egham met. From the start ...

. The

Jericho Health Centre Jericho Health Centre is a health centre on Walton Street in Oxford, England. It is named after the district of Jericho, just northwest of central Oxford. It is part of the United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS). In June 2012, New R ...

moved into the ground floor of this new building shortly afterwards. A new Mathematical Institute for the University of Oxford has been built on the site, named after the mathematician Sir

Andrew Wiles Sir Andrew John Wiles (born 11 April 1953) is an English mathematician and a Royal Society Research Professor at the University of Oxford, specializing in number theory. He is best known for proving Fermat's Last Theorem, for which he was awa ...

, who proved

Fermat's Last Theorem In number theory, Fermat's Last Theorem (sometimes called Fermat's conjecture, especially in older texts) states that no three positive integers , , and satisfy the equation for any integer value of greater than 2. The cases and have been ...

. The site will also include a Humanities Building and Library, the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, and the

Blavatnik School of Government The Blavatnik School of Government is a school of public policy founded in 2010 at the University of Oxford in England. The School was founded following a £75 million donation from a business magnate Leonard Blavatnik, supported by £26 millio ...

. Construction of the Blavatnik School of Government finished in 2015. It is a 22 meter tall building immediately south of Freud's café on Walton Street, designed by the Swiss architects

Herzog & de Meuron Herzog & de Meuron Basel Ltd.,
" Herzog & de Meuron. Retrieved on 11 October 2012. "Herzog & de Meuron Basel Ltd. R ...

, using a £75 million donation from the billionaire

Leonard Blavatnik Sir Leonard Valentinovich Blavatnik, russian: Леонид Валентинович Блаватник, Leonid Valentinovich Blavatnik (born June 14, 1957) is a Ukraine-born American-British business magnate and philanthropist. As of March 202 ...

. The Campaign to Protect Port Meadow that has been formed to protest against the Oxford University

Castle Mill Castle Mill is a graduate housing complex of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Overview Castle Mill is located north of Oxford railway station along Roger Dudman Way, just to the west of the railway tracks and the Oxford Down Ca ...

graduate housing development south of

Port Meadow Port Meadow is a large meadow of open common land beside the River Thames to the north and west of Oxford, England. Overview The meadow is an ancient area of grazing land, still used for horses and cattle, and according to legend has never bee ...

was opposed to this proposal as well due to its impact on the Oxford skyline. In March 2016, Oxford University's Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences relocated from New Radcliffe House to the refurbished Outpatient's Building, adjacent to the old Radcliffe Infirmary. Following a £14m investment, the Grade II-listed outpatients building has been transformed into a new research and teaching centre for primary care researchers. It had been empty since 2007, when the outpatient services were transferred to the West Wing of the

John Radcliffe Hospital The John Radcliffe Hospital (informally known as the JR) is a large tertiary teaching hospital in Oxford, England. It forms part of the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and is named after John Radcliffe, an 18th-century physic ...

Headington Headington is an eastern suburb of Oxford, England. It is at the top of Headington Hill overlooking the city in the Thames valley below, and bordering Marston to the north-west, Cowley to the south, and Barton and Risinghurst to the east. ...

. ;Delayed construction of Humanities building After securing planning permission for a new Humanities building in 2010, construction was put on hold due to the 'uncertain financial climate.' In 2015, a spokesman for the University said that the university planned to begin construction of a new Humanities building on the site in 2018. However, the head of the Humanities Division later said that construction would begin in 2021. In June 2019, the university announced that Stephen A. Schwarzman had donated £150 million to establish the Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities.

Gallery

File:Excavations behind the Radcliffe Infirmary - geograph.org.uk - 1571670.jpg, Archaeological excavations by the

in 2009, with the

building in the background File:New Radcliffe House, Oxford.JPG,

in the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, housing the

, with the tower of the

in the background File:Green Templeton College.jpg, The Radcliffe Observatory, after which the ROQ project is named File:ROQ outpatients refit.JPG, Ongoing refit of the former outpatients' building into a new health research and teaching centre for the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

References

External links

Radcliffe Observatory Quarter website

Oxford University Library Services information

Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences
{{coord, 51, 45, 38, N, 1, 15, 50, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title 2009 establishments in England University of Oxford sites Buildings and structures of the University of Oxford Planned developments Green Templeton College, Oxford