29 Aug 08

The Earth Sciences building will provide laboratory and office space for around 400 students and staff.

Oxford City Council’s Strategic Development Control Committee has granted planning permission for the University of Oxford to build a new Earth Sciences building.

The purpose-built centre will be constructed on the site of the old Central Chemistry building on South Parks Road and will house 160 students and 234 staff. The new building will provide the Department of Earth Sciences with up-to-date facilities, including laboratory and office space.

Professor Philip England, Head of the Department of Earth Sciences, said: ‘I am delighted that our new building has received planning permission. We have been sorely in need of modern laboratory and teaching space, and this building will give us a tremendous facility in which to carry out our work.’

The new Earth Sciences building has been designed by Wilkinson Eyre Architects, twice winners of the RIBA Stirling Prize for their work on the Gateshead Millennium Bridge and Magna, the science adventure centre in Rotherham.

The Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford conducts research and teaching on a wide range of topics including the evolution of life, the workings of the climate system, the causes of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and the behaviour of oceans and the atmosphere.