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BUILDING PROJECTS
WESTGATE SHOPPING CENTRE OXFORD
understatement
BDP’s new shopping complex in one of the UK’s most historic and rigorously-planned cities features copious glazing, as subtly as possible. Roseanne Field reports
O FOUR PRIMARY SPACES
These are tied together by glazed roofs that also create the public squares © Gareth Gardner
xford is renowned for its architectural as well as academic heritage. Home to one of the oldest and most esteemed universities in the world, the city’s distinctive classical architecture dates back centuries. It was therefore always going to prove a challenge to redevelop a dated 1970s shopping centre to meet the expectations of the 21st century customer. Westgate, so named due to its entrance where the medieval West Gate into the city used to sit, eventually reopened in October last year after an incredibly protracted and complicated planning process. It was vital that the building didn’t look out of place among the local architecture. Oxford’s planning structures are such that while initial plans for the redevelopment were released in 2004, several rounds of adaptations had to be made and final plans weren’t adopted until 2010, with full planning permission not granted until 2014. “It’s in the centre of Oxford, so minimising the impact to the skyline was critical,” explains BDP’s Neil Hayward, who worked as part of the masterplanning team. In fact, a particular building within Oxford – the 12th century Carfax tower – sets the height limit for all developments within the city centre.
So stringent was the planning that BDP had to prepare a range of different drawings and images for weekly planning meetings that took place over two years. “We had to do lots of verifiable views which defined the extent of where we could
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build,” Hayward explains. This situation is unique to Oxford and as well as the planning meetings – which are still ongoing despite the development having opened some months ago – there were three CABE reviews. Westgate is predominantly the brainchild
of BDP, who was the lead architect and responsible for the masterplan and common elements, but the scheme also saw the involvement of Panter Hudspith, Allies and Morrison, Glenn Howells, and Dixon Jones. The developer for the project was Westgate Oxford Alliance, a collaboration between The Crown Estate and Landsec. The development is broken into four primary spaces – the flagship John Lewis building and three other ‘blocks’. These are tied together by glazed roofs that also create the public squares. This glazing is a compromise to satisfy both Westgate Oxford Alliance, who wanted weather protection, and the local authority who wanted open streets. It was important that the development didn’t feel like a shopping centre. “We were allowed to cover the streets, but not enclose them,” explains Steve Downey, architect at BDP who worked on the roofs’ designs.
Leiden Square
In order to adhere to planning, the glass roofs have been designed to have as little impact as possible. “It was important that they didn’t become ‘features,’” says Hayward. “The first design approach with these roofs was to design something that wasn’t fancy, something that didn’t draw
ADF MAY 2018 Making an
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