Our Estate The University’s estate, comprising buildings for research, teaching, learning, and administration, has been growing at around 5% a year for the last 15 years. Today there are around 260 buildings across 13 sites in and around Oxford. We aim to provide our staff and students with state-of-the-art facilities within an inspiring and historic setting, to improve opportunities for interdisciplinary working, and to minimise our environmental impact. We invest in the estate to enable new or improved ways of working; this includes the decommissioning and transformation of inappropriate spaces. How we manage and develop the estate is underpinned by our environmental policies. To support this investment, we have on average of 80 building and refurbishment projects ongoing at any one time, with an annual expenditure in excess of £100m. This cost is met through a combination of University funds, Government grants and initiatives, and donations.
Click on the pack to view our ambitious Estate Strategy.
University of Oxford Estate Strategy The University’s Estate Strategy 2024–2029 sets out the guiding principles that will enable us to deliver the excellent facilities that will support our academic mission.
Our estate in numbers Over 270 buildings that we use for teaching, research,
The University’s estate is large, diverse, and complex, and it has been growing steadily for many years. We are proud of the many excellent buildings we have created, but we need to balance investment in new facilities with the ongoing maintenance of our existing estate to create far more pleasant and comfortable environments for work and study, supporting the University’s core academic mission of research, education, public outreach and innovation. This means delivering an estate that meets the needs of staff and students and meets modern standards in terms of accessibility and safety, provides a stimulating learning environment, well suited to its purpose and is sustainable over the long term in both financial and environmental terms. We must also ensure we provide the resources needed to maintain this high standard. Our Estate Strategy aims to put us in a position to do all this. It does not exist in isolation; it is one of the enabling elements that will underpin delivery of our overarching strategic aims and the University’s mission: the advancement of learning by teaching and research and its dissemination by every means. The strategy was produced in close collaboration with colleagues all over the collegiate University, and by reflecting on what we have been told through a wide range of engagement and consultation activities. While quality and functional suitability are key priorities, so is the flexibility to adapt as our needs change in future so that the estate continues to support the University’s core mission. It will be delivered through a set of linked guiding principles.
administration, sports, libraries, museums, and ceremonial events. 200 properties that we manage commercially, including office space, warehouses, and property. The University estate contains some of Oxford’s oldest and finest buildings. The oldest dates from 1326 , and 20% of our buildings are listed, including the Radcliffe Camera, Sheldonian
Key principles At the heart of the strategy are guiding principles that will inform the long-term management of the estate during this period. They are: z The purpose of the estate is to support the University’s core academic mission of research and education, including public outreach and innovation . z The functional estate must be f i t for purpose and adaptable to meet existing and developing academic priorities . z The University must conserve its historic built and natural environment , ensuring appropriate and careful use of listed buildings and green spaces. z The University estate must meet threshold standards (quality, legal compliance, and environmental sustainability). z The University estate must be affordable and financially sustainable .
Theatre and Old Bodleian Library. Green spaces including 70 acres of green parkland in central Oxford
1000 acres of ancient semi-natural forest at
Wytham Woods Agricultural land around the city,
including over 100 acres at Park Farm on the banks of the Cherwell which can be used for academic research.
University of Oxford Estate Strategy
A virtual tour of the estate can be viewed here.
More information about our major projects can be viewed here .
View our Estates Team Structure here .
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