Revised plans published for student blocks in Latimer Road

The Frontier amended plans are now on the website. The original application was for 175 students, but amended plans cite 167, see below.
15/00858/FUL | Demolition of residential houses at 36, 38 and 40 London Road and 2 Latimer Road. Erection of 167 student study rooms and ancillary facilities on 4 and 5 levels plus basement, together with 2 x 2-bed and 2 x 3-bed maisonettes. Provision of 4 car parking spaces, 88 cycle parking spaces, landscaped areas and ancillary works. (Amended description, amended plans and additional information) | 36 38 40 London Road And 2 Latimer Road Headington Oxford Oxfordshire OX3 7PA
http://public.oxford.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=NLARZ3MFJ8800
There is some delay time while the link loads as there are more than 400 documents  associated with this application
The end date for comments by residents and neighbours is now 29th October and the application will be determined by the East Area Planning Committee no earlier than Wed 2nd December

Latest planning news

The latest planning applications have been uploaded here.

They relate to properties in Gardiner Street, Staunton Road, Windmill Road and the JR.

Ruth has called in the application to build student housing and maisonettes on the junction of Latimer Road and London Road for adjudication by East Area Planning Committee.

And just to show that repeated applications do get through eventually, the St Leonard’s Road one has been given delegated approval.

15/00370/FUL PERMITTED

Demolition of existing store. Erection of 1 x 2-bed dwelling (Use Class C3).

Store Adjacent 79 St Leonard’s Road

15/00455/FUL PERMITTED

Erection of a first floor side and rear extension.

190 Headley Way Oxford

Brookes community relations update

Oxford Brookes University has sent councillors the following update.

1. Student Community Warden Scheme

This year we have a team of 16 Student Community Wardens, one of which takes on the role of Team Leader. The activities they have been involved with so far are training, the implementation of the House Champion Scheme and dealing with disputes. They continue to work closely with the Council and Thames Valley Police. Following the activities from Semester 1, the Student Community Wardens continue to conduct walkabouts in the areas which are densely populated with our students. This involves door knocking to:

 provide advice to local residents, including student residents regarding living in the community.

 provide local residents an opportunity to talk about issues such as litter, car parking, anti-social behaviour and noise.

 distribute packs to all student households; giving advice from the Council on managing their waste

2. The House Champion Scheme

The House Champion Scheme is a joint initiative with the two universities, council and police working to provide key communication to student properties and encourage them to nominate one student as a House Champion. We are targeting houses in East Oxford and Gipsy Lane Estate. The scheme has been positively received by students and we have over 200 nominated House Champions. This semester, now that we have a large number of House Champions in place, we have developed a programme of communication, which takes the form of a monthly bulletin. This bulletin is sent via email to all the House Champions with key messages from the council, police and universities. There is also the offer of a free gift each month. These messages and gifts will act as a reminder to the students of their role as House Champion and hopefully encourage them to participate in the scheme should it continue in future years.

3. Complaints Report

Since the beginning of this academic year, September 2014, we have received a total of 98 complaints which is lower than last year as we had received 131 complaints by the end of February 2014.

In line with previous years the majority of complaints received have been regarding noise, with 68 of the total 98 (69%). The percentage of noise complaints compared to other categories of complaints is higher 69% up from 66% last year. Anti-social behaviour complaints are on a par with last year at 15 (same as last year), parking complaints have gone down from 15 last year to 8 this year. The litter complaints have also significantly decreased from 14 last year to 7 this year. The majority of complaints which were confirmed as involving Brookes students were resolved in the initial stages, 13 had to be taken to second stage (which is down from 22 last year) and two cases were referred for disciplinary action, which is down from the four referred to disciplinary at the same time last year

Revised plans for Latimer Road student flats

Frontier Estates have revised their plans for developing the site 36, 38, 40 London Road and 2 Latimer Road for student accommodation, and are mounting a Public Exhibition on Tuesday 27th January 2015 between 4 and 8 pm.  Please note the venue is:

St Clement’s Family Centre, Cross Street, Oxford OX4 1DA.

(coming from Headington, Cross Street is the last road on the left down Morrell Avenue)

PLEASE NOTE A presentation from Oxford Brookes on the number of students living in Headington will form part of the Headington Ward Focus Meeting at Headington Baptist Church Hall, Old High Street from 6pm that same evening

Latest on Brookes building plans

The following notes have been sent out to councillors from Oxford Brookes University

1. WORKS UPDATE
1.1. The cycle shelter between our Media Centre and International Centre is now operational
1.1.1. Further works to complete the cladding and wall finishes will continue into April
1.1.2. This may cause some minor noise from handtools and men working in the landscaped area between the shelter and the walled boundary of nearby properties
1.2. Occasional paving repairs and jetwashing is expected to take place in our Western Access Road between Headington Road and Cheney School field
1.2.1. This may cause some minor noise from handtools and generator use
2. JOHN HENRY BROOKES BUILDING
2.1. Our new building is now open and has been very well received by our staff and students.
2.1.1. The public can access the building between the hours of 7.30am and 9.00pm
2.2. The construction of our Colonnade retail building will continue into April
2.3. Following the completion of the Colonnade construction programme, our contracted retailers will begin their own programmes of fit out to the individual units
2.3.1. These units are expected to include a bookshop, bank and convenience store, in addition to dentist, doctor and osteopath surgeries, all of which will be open to the public
3. OTHER ESTATES UPDATES
3.1. The University will shortly be applying to the City Council to extend the planning permission for its temporary buildings on the Headington Hill site
3.2. This application will be made available by the City Council on its webpages for comment

Works update from Oxford Brookes

We have received the following report from Brookes about the building works at the Gipsy Lane Campus

1. WORKS UPDATE

1.1. Work to prepare the corner of the Piazza for an art installation is underway

  1. 1.1.1.  Following initial drilling to fix brackets, contractors will dress the concrete step at Headington Road with paving, which may involve some erratic noise from trimming of stone
  2. 1.1.2.  This work is expected to take place during the first part of February

1.2. The construction of the cycle shelter between our Media Centre and International Centre will continue into February as the sedum roof is laid and bike hoops are fitted

  1. 1.2.1.  This work may cause some minor noise from handtools and men working in the landscaped area between the shelter and the walled boundary of nearby properties
  2. 1.2.2.  The shelter is expected to complete before the end of February

2. JOHN HENRY BROOKES BUILDING OPENING

2.1. Our building is now scheduled to open in the week commencing Monday 24 February

2.1.1. Initial services moving into the building will include the Library and student support, with teaching following soon after and catering in late March

  1. 2.2.  The moving of the Library stock will take place 24hrs a day over five days from 8pm Friday 21 February to 8.30am Wednesday 26 February
  2. 2.3.  During this time there will be activity in the western access road leading from Headington Road
  1. 2.3.1.  Vehicle movements and unloading at the corner of the new building in the western access road may cause some noise but measures will be put in place to minimise disruption
  2. 2.3.2.  Should you wish to speak to someone during the relocation outside of normal working hours please call Gary Newman, Project Manager for Moveplan on 07747 865019

New Brookes Library nearing completion

 

John Henry Brookes Building

Here is our latest information about on-going work at the Brookes Campus off Headington Road/Gipsy Lane from the Brookes Space to Think Team.

1. WORKS UPDATE

1.1. A large crane will be erected outside our Main Reception area on Gipsy Lane in the New Year in order to remove construction site facilities from the central courtyard

1.1.1. See section below for further details

1.2. Furniture delivery and the relocation of our Library is programmed to take place from Monday 6 January 2014

  1. 1.2.1.  This will involve a regular movement of heavy goods vehicles from our Gipsy Lane entrance to the new vehicle access route from Headington Road close to our Media Centre
  2. 1.2.2.  Following the weekend of Saturday 10 January 2014, our Library relocation is planned to take place over a period of seven days
  3. 1.2.3.  During the period of the relocation, HGV deliveries will take place over 24 hours, and measures will be put into place to minimise disruption

1.3. The construction of the cycle shelter between our Media Centre and International Centre will continue in the New Year

1.3.1. This work may cause some minor noise from handtools and men working in the landscaped area between the shelter and the walled boundary of nearby properties

2. REMOVAL OF CONTRACTOR FACILITIES

2.1. A large crane will be erected outside our Main Reception area on Gipsy Lane in the New Year in order to remove construction site facilities from the central courtyard

  1. 2.1.1.  Between Thursday 2 and Monday 6 January work to prepare the area may cause minor noise disruption to neighbours immediately adjacent to the Gipsy Lane entrance
  2. 2.1.2.  The crane will be on site from Monday 6 to Monday 27 January and the transport of equipment onto Gipsy Lane may cause occasional periods of disruption to traffic
  3. 2.1.3.  A major lift will take place over the weekend of Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 January and continue into Monday 13 January, during which our entire Main Reception area will be closed
  4. 2.1.4.  During this period there will also be an increased number of heavy goods vehicles using Gipsy Lane, which may cause some disruption to traffic
  1. 2.2.  The entrance doors to our Main Reception will be locked from Monday 6 to Monday 27 January and alternative access to the University will be signposted
  2. 2.3.  Noise disruption during the lifting work should be minimal, though there may be periods where noise levels will increase due to workforce communication or assembly and disassembly of the crane

3. CHRISTMAS OPERATIONS

  1. 3.1.  The main Laing O’Rourke workforce will leave site on Friday 20 December 2013 and return to recommence work on Thursday 2 January 2014
  2. 3.2.  Limited numbers will remain on site outside of Bank Holiday periods to perform internal work

3.2.1. This work is minor in nature and will not cause disruption as it will be fully contained within the building

 

Update from Oxford Brookes on the building work

Local councillors have received this report from Oxford Brookes University

1. Works Update

1.1. Scaffolding around the site is expected to be removed from the beginning of July

page1image5024

1.2. Trench digging work has progressed significantly at the face of our Media Centre building (next to Headington Road)

1.2.1. This will continue into the summer and requires breaking and excavation that may cause noise, vibration and dust disturbance to those residents close to the area

 

1.3. The programme of concrete breaking and excavation along the Western Access Road will continue into July outside the Tonge building and International Centre

1.3.1.  Paving work to complete the look of our new campus will soon begin along the face of Tonge

1.3.2.  From early July, excavation work will progress to the face of the International Centre and continue on to the Media Centre and is expected to complete in September

1.3.3.  The process of breaking, excavation, ground preparations and paving required by this work may cause noise, vibration and dust disturbance to nearby residents

1.4.  Alterations to access along our Western Access Road as described in previous Reports are now in effect – please see point 3 below

1.5.  Traffic on Headington Road will benefit from a drop in the number of HGV deliveries arriving on to site via the Western Access Road as work to the piazza and building entrance progresses in July

 

2. Removal of Tower Crane 2

2.1.  Tower Crane 2 will be dismantled and removed from the site between Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 June, over weekend hours

2.2.  The removal will involve the erecting of a temporary support crane close to our Western boundary and the Tonge building

2.3.  On Saturday 29 June work will begin at 7am and continue until 7pm

2.4.  On Sunday 30 June work will begin at 8am and continue until 6pm

 

3. Changes to Western Access Road

3.1.  A temporary fully accessible path has been established at the rear of our International Centre and Tonge buildings

3.2.  Work to extend this path via the rear of the Media Centre has been rescheduled in line with programmed breaking and excavation works adjacent to this building

3.3.  This extension is now expected to be constructed later in the summer, after which we will close the entire Western Access Road to public traffic while final paving work is completed

3.4. The extended temporary path will then remain in operation until the completion of the project

 

 

Brookes/Sony “Magic” Wonderbook hits the bookshops

A key Christmas product for Sony using technology developed by Oxford Brookes’ Computer Vision Group hit the shops last week (16 November). 

Complex computing from Oxford Brookes helped to create a ‘magical’ new technology called Wonderbook which is now on sale complete with a Book of Spells game from the World of Harry Potter series.

The all-new Wonderbook for the Sony PlayStation 3 uses a technology known as Augmented Reality (AR) and has been praised for its ‘technical wizardry’. 
Wonderbook’s AR uses objects in the player’s environment, captured through a camera, and mixes them with virtual objects presented in a game on screen. 

The contribution from Oxford Brookes was to enable the computer to distinguish the skin of the player’s hands from the background.

Dorset House contact details

All who came to yesterday’s Ward Focus Meeting were treated to a presentation by Emily Wright, the accommodation manager at Dorset House. She told us all about how the students were settling in and how Dorset House is managed.

No student tenant is allowed to bring a car unless they are disabled. If a tenant brings a car to the site, they are in breach of contract and the matter will be dealt with accordingly.  All 313 students have moved in now, there are 254 in en suite accommodation and 54 in studio rooms. 31% are Year 1 students, the rest are in Years 3,4 or are postgraduate students. A travel survey will be completed shortly.

There have been very few complaints as yet, but we did agree to post the contact numbers up on our website in case any resident needs to make a call.

Most complaints should be directed to Emily (9.00-17.00 weekdays) on 07880 202266

Service 24 will deal with emergency out of hours complaints on 01162 548730. They will pass on relevant information to the duty wardens who will take immediate action.