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REVIEWS OF THE YEAR
Bursar’s Report
Stephen Withers Green
Projects
In June 2015, the School started the
construction of a new music school largely
on the site of the Ferguson Music School
(Peter Bosanquet & Partners, 1962) which
provided the School with 10 practice rooms
and three larger recital rooms for orchestras
and other ensembles. The new music school
has been designed by Tim Ronalds
Architects and is being built by Feltham
Construction Ltd. It will contain 20
practice rooms, seven ensemble rooms,
a rock room and recording studio, three
classrooms, a recital/rehearsal room, a
music library, various offices and a staff
room. The cost of the building, excluding
enabling works, is expected to be £5.4
million and the Music Department will
take up occupation by Autumn Term 2016.
As the new music school will occupy the
site of the old one as well as the site of the
laundry and part of the maintenance yard,
we have needed to supply the Department
with temporary facilities in the Cooper
Quad, and a series of practice rooms in the
adjacent Cooper Lodge by relocating the
language and graduate assistants to rented
accommodation at 314, Banbury Road. The
laundry has been moved to an extension of
the Piggeries which it now shares with the
Grounds Department. This last move has
allowed the Maintenance Department to
move into the space previously allocated to
the laundry.
Future Plans
Having completed Jubilee House (TSH
Architects, 2013), and having started the new
music school this year, the School has moved
forward with the next plank of its strategic
plan – the building of additional teaching
facilities. We commissioned the same
architectural practice to develop a scheme for
a new 10-classroom teaching block in the
space bordered by the New Hall, Cowell’s
House, the Modern Languages Block, and
the Work Block. This scheme has grown so
that it has a second phase which involves
relocating the Library, and a third that will
remodel the New Hall. This project can be
seen as the completion of the Quad in line
with “Simeon’s Dream.” Those involved in
the planning are aware of the sensitivities
involved with this site in the heart of the
School and the draft plans were submitted for
review to the Oxford Design Review Panel.
We commissioned Hilary Keenlyside of
Bonnar Keenlyside to produce a report on the
feasibility of building a 1,000-seat concert
hall attached to the new music school on the
adjacent Lemon Tree and Jack fm site. The
premise was that this would not only be a
school facility but also one that we shared
with the public, along the lines of the use
of The North Wall Arts Centre. Hilary’s
principle conclusions were that the
Sheldonian Theatre carries enormous prestige
and is loved by audiences and promoters
alike. They would be unlikely to abandon it