George Street redevelopment showcased at the Oxford Town Hall

A two-day public engagement event to showcase the City Council’s plans for the redevelopment of its property on 1-5 George Street in the city centre gets underway today, Friday 22 June at Oxford Town Hall.

Members of the public are invited to view the Council’s plans, provide feedback and ask questions at the event, which will be held in The Long Room from 3-7pm on Friday and 9am-1pm on Saturday 23 June. At both times, members of the project team will be available to answer any questions on the proposal. This event is part of the pre-application process.

The building is almost empty now and security hoardings have been put up outside the property. The Council has completed its review of designs and will consider submissions from the public engagement event before submitting the planning application by August this year.

The £9.75 million redevelopment scheme will provide approximately 3,500 sq ft of retail and restaurant accommodation at the lower levels with approximately 17,000 sq ft of Grade A office accommodation on the upper levels.

Councillor Ed Turner, Board Member for Finance and Asset Management, said: “We’d like to hear your views on our plans to redevelop 1-5 George Street to provide first class office, retail and restaurant accommodation to businesses in the centre of Oxford. When completed, the new development will help generate revenues for the Council to enable us to safeguard the funding of our vital frontline services. It will also add to the continued vibrancy of the city centre, which is experiencing a period of sustained regeneration. The new Westgate Oxford Centre reopened in October last year after two years of redevelopment works and on Cornmarket Street new redevelopment projects are expected to follow in the near future.”