University of Oxford college gets green light to expand student housing

A University of Oxford college has been granted permission to extend its student accommodation.

National property consultancy Carter Jonas secured planning consent on behalf of St John’s College.

The plan is to replace and extend the accommodation on St John Street in the city centre.

Existing grade II college buildings on the street will undergo a refurbishment while a contemporary single storey common room will be added to the rear of the terraced properties.

External spaces to the rear of St John Street will be relandscaped to create improved external spaces and communal amenities for the students.

St John’s, like other Oxford colleges, is facing pressure to increase accommodation for its growing number of graduate students.

Huw Mellor, partner at Carter Jonas in Oxford, said: "We are extremely pleased that once again we have worked with an Oxford University college to increase the provision of high-quality student accommodation and make considerable improvements to a key city centre site which will retain its unique historic character while also making the building more sustainable."

Work has already begun on site, with contractor Beard upgrading the external fabric to reduce heat loss and installing woodfibre insulation to the internal face of the building.

The works also include replacing gas boiler systems with air source heat pumps to provide heating and hot water and upgrading the windows with secondary internal glazing.