St Edmund Hall, Oxford - Norham Gardens Residence
Norham Gardens Residence at St Edmund Hall, Oxford
We provided conservation advice for proposals to partially demolish and refurbish an existing Victorian villa and construct three new Passivhaus buildings at 17-19 Norham Gardens, Oxford. The site sat within the Norham Manor character area of the North Oxford Victorian Suburb Conservation Area.
The project’s aim was to allow the Oxford college of St Edmund Hall to accommodate all of its students on site for the first time and make efficient use of the site as a new student hub for St Edmund Hall, whilst supporting the college’s move towards net-zero carbon emissions. This is achieved through following EnerPHit principles for the refurbishment of the existing buildings, and following Passivhaus principles for the new buildings, which are made of a prefabricated, cross-laminated timber load-bearing frame with energy derived largely from air source heat pumps and bi-solar green roofs.
These buildings will ‘abstract’ the Victorian characteristics of their surroundings, such as gable ends, towers, chimneys and dormer windows, ‘in a contemporary manner’ whilst providing 128 new student rooms. The new 4,600m² development will be faced in a mixture of brickwork and tiles with details such as ornamental ironwork to reflect the Arts and Crafts tradition of the local area.
The project was granted planning approval in January 2023.
Client: St Edmund Hall (College)
Architects: Wright and Wright
Images: Courtesy of the architects