New Teaching and Workshop Buildings Revitalise Oxford Brookes University’s Headington Campus

ADP has completed a new Teaching building and specialist Workshop at Oxford Brookes University’s Headington Hill site. These buildings are set within the historic grounds of the Grade II listed Headington Hill Hall and its surrounding conservation area. Officially opened on 1st May, these buildings are set to transform teaching, learning, research, and industry collaboration. This project is part of the University’s ongoing effort to consolidate its Oxford-based activities onto a single campus at Headington.

The new Teaching building features several public-facing elements, including a café, exhibition area, digital theatre, and an immersive VR cave. Designed around a central spine connecting three floors, it creates an outward-looking social core that promotes student engagement, collaboration, and wellbeing.

The digital theatre and media suite have a public entrance from the foyer, extending access beyond the teaching programme. We carefully assessed the design principles for general teaching areas, computer rooms, and offices to ensure they are flexible and adaptable, meeting the current and future needs of the building’s users. A unique highlight is the display of Formula 1 racing cars, supporting in-depth learning in suspension, chassis design, and aerodynamics.

The Workshop is a specialist building with a focus on support for mechanical engineering courses. It houses industry-standard manufacturing workshops, a wind tunnel, and engine test cells within the unique Headington Hill parkland conservation area, near the listed Headington Hill Hall. Designed with sustainability principles at its core, it serves as a living laboratory for learning, research, and teaching.

Zinc cladding was used to sensitively reflect the conservation zone setting, with the form referencing the gables of the old stables. The robust Workshop blocks are distinctly separated by lightweight connecting elements that engage with the local parkland and campus. This design meshes the building into the constrained site by celebrating key views and providing both inward and outward perspectives, fostering engagement with the local heritage context. The perforated cladding mitigates the visual impact of hidden louvred ventilation, enhancing the Workshop’s distinct character and providing a textured architectural response to its masonry heritage context.

These exciting new spaces are available for the whole Oxford Brookes community and reflect the University’s commitment to innovation, hands-on learning, world-leading research, and community engagement. The development was crucial in connecting the Oxford Brookes University estate at Headington Hill with the Clive Booth Student Village and Gipsy Lane sites. This improved connectivity fostered placemaking opportunities and strengthens ties between the University and the local community.

Oxford Brookes has committed to achieving Net Zero Carbon by 2040. As part of this commitment, the two new buildings help to consolidate activity previously spread across different campuses, revitalise the Headington Hill site, and champion low-energy solutions in the development of a sustainable, low-carbon estate.

These buildings serve as living laboratories for learning, research, and teaching—embodying sustainability principles at every design stage. Our fabric-first approach minimises primary energy consumption and carbon emissions, aligning with a heat pump future that prioritises a low-temperature hot water (LTHW) compatible system with efficient heat pumps and PV arrays.

The buildings were delivered in collaboration with Willmott Dixon Construction.

Glen Moses, Project Director at ADP, said: “The ambition was to create a vibrant new heart for the Headington Hill site through the addition of two thoughtfully designed buildings: a purpose-built workshop and a long-life, flexible teaching facility. The University’s vision was clear: the project presented a unique opportunity to reimagine the organisation of academic activities by bringing together a wide range of ‘making’ practices into an iconic new building and a complementary workshop space—designed with trans-disciplinary collaboration as a defining principle. The conservation area, parkland context, and close collaboration with the University and its stakeholders have led to a truly unique solution which we believe will benefit the staff, students, and the local community at Headington.”

Professor Alistair Fitt, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University, said: “Oxford Brookes is committed to building an environment which supports our students, staff and partners to excel. Formally opened today, the Teaching and Workshop buildings feature cutting-edge technology and will enhance education, research and employability opportunities.”

“Our campus spaces continue to respond to the evolving needs of the University’s community and the rapidly changing world of education. Our vision is for our Oxford environment to inspire a vibrant, connected and diverse student and staff community to achieve their potential and the opening of these pioneering new buildings plays an important part in achieving this.”

Richard Poulter, Managing Director of Willmott Dixon Construction South said: “It has been a privilege to work alongside Oxford Brookes University to bring their ambitious vision to life. These exceptional new buildings are not only architecturally striking but are also packed with advanced technologies and innovative learning spaces that will serve students, staff, and industry partners for years to come. We’re proud to have delivered facilities that will help shape the future of education and research, and which reflect the University’s clear commitment to excellence, sustainability, and community impact.”