Barns Road
by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris
Client Green Square Group
Awards RIBA South Award 2017
A major new piece of affordable housing, which is the first phase of three interrelated sites in the Cowley area. Delivering a range of affordable tenure homes for sale and for rent, there were clear lessons from London and continental mixed use schemes, where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Overall this residential-led scheme is a positive, yet understated contribution to the area.
Some interesting moments managed to survive challenging budget constraints in the scheme: these included roof gardens, balconies and generous vertical slots of the entry space. At upper levels the double aspect residential accommodation uses the open views across Oxford to effect. In addition, generously-scaled openings offered a quality of space and light normally only found in schemes with a considerably larger budget. The public art on the principal façade was rather understated and a little lost in the cluttered streetscape of Cowley Road. The quality of build was very good – especially for the budget – and Barns Road is was an impressive achievement, given typology and very constrained budget.
Sited within a challenging part of Oxford, the project brings together social enterprise and a mix of housing in an innovative way, to create a vibrant mix of uses and communities. The client is clearly very happy with the result.
Contractor Feltham Construction
Project Management Fry Binks
Landscape Architect Studio Englebeck
Structural Engineer Curtins Consulting
Services Engineer (Pre Novation) CBG Consulting
Services Engineer (Post Novation) Entric Services Ltd
Acoustic Engineers Sandy Brown Associates
Approved Inspector MLM
Sustainability Consultant Blewburton Ltd
Internal Area 4,082 m²
