Lord Drayson, Minister of State for Science and Innovation, and founder of Powderject, officially opened Oxford Innovation’s new facility on 19 November 2009.

OI and MEPC hosted the event which attracted many of the region’s leading science entrepreneurs.  Lord Drayson spoke of the importance of science research to the UK and the conglomeration of high tech companies within the Oxford / Cambridge / London triangle.  His tour of the building included sampling the research work of some of the cutting edge companies who occupy the building.

Jo Willett of Oxford Innovation said,

‘The design and layout of the building provide an ideal Innovation Centre facility, with plenty of light and space to create opportunities for companies to interact.  Client companies particularly benefit from the flexibility of the space provided; it really provides a prestigious location for even the earliest stage company. Despite only being open since January 2009 there are already 31 companies in occupation or using the virtual offices and hot desk facilities.’

 

Stubbs Rich have recently completed work on a revolutionary building at Oxford University’s Begbroke Science Park. The University’s brief was for an economical laboratory building that would cost much less to build than most laboratories. Not only this, but it would also need to withstand frequent change - sometimes at short notice - and be able to accommodate many types of research programmes: a challenging brief perhaps, but one that Stubbs Rich’s value-driven ethos thrives on.

The success of the project has been recognised with the 2009 Constructing Excellence Value Award for London and the South East. Director John Rich says: “We are delighted to have received this particular award because it highlights our approach to every project that we engage with. We are focussed on designing buildings that deliver exceptional value to our clients. There is no place for ‘cheap and cheerful’ buildings in our thinking, we believe in ‘cheap and clever’ buildings.”

In response to the level of interest in this building, and our expertise in this area, we have produced a ten minute presentation film that explains the features and design of this special building. This can be viewed at:

www.stubbsrich.com/openbuildings

Easy adaptability, clear servicing strategy and good value were the three criteria that the client set for this new 4,000sqm research building.  Prior to selecting an architect they carried out their own research to find a good example of the type of building they were seeking.  Before approaching us, they had paid two visits to our research building at Oxford University’s Begbroke Science Park and discussed the design and use of the buildings with the University.

The laboratory buildings at Begbroke are regarded as being some of the most innovative in the UK in the way in which their design responds to regular and unexpected change of use.  The building type is known as ‘open’ or more helpfully as ‘adaptable’.  It recognises that it is better to design for easy future flexibility than to design a building that is optimised to the initial use.  The challenge with ‘open’ labs is how to accommodate the heavy services installation.  This is the problem that has been cracked at Begbroke. Here is a link to a 10 minute video which explains how the Begbroke buildings work:  www.stubbsrich.com/openbuildings

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Stubbs Rich have recently completed work on a revolutionary building at Oxford University’s Begbroke Science Park. The University’s brief was for a building that could accommodate frequent change - sometimes at short notice - and for a building that could accommodate many types of research programmes. The brief also included a requirement for an economical building that would cost much less to build than most laboratories.

In response, Stubbs Rich have designed an excellent example of an ‘open building’. The design followed a research trip to view university laboratories in California in 2004 where it was found that the design of many laboratories was out of date before the labs came into use.

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