Oxford University ‘Life And Mind Building’ Given Approval

A huge, new ‘Temple to Science’ is to be constructed on the old site of an Oxford University building that was riddled with Asbestos.

A new ‘Life And Mind Building’ for the University of Oxford has been approved by Oxford City Council’s west area planning committee, and is to be built on the corner of South Parks Road and St Cross Road, and will house two departments of the university, Experimental Psychology and a new Department of Biology, combining Zoology and Plant Sciences, reports BBC News.

It is to replace the Tinbergen Building, the former home of the Psychology and Zoology departments, a mid-20th century concrete building that was full of Asbestos.

Council planning committee member Mike Gotch said: “In the middle of a pandemic we don’t need reminding that good science at Oxford can lead to some amazing results.”

The new building will be five storeys tall, and house a basement below ground, and will also connect to existing chemistry labs on South Parks Road.

At the corner of South Parks Road and St Cross Road, there will be a new open public space full of trees and sitting areas, and an amphitheatre that has access to the basements.

There will also be a cafe on the ground floor which members of the public can access, and a set of greenhouses on the roof to accommodate plant studies.

A letter from pro-vice-chancellor Dr David Prout to Oxford City Council in support of the plan said the new Life and Mind Building would be the ‘largest building project the university has ever undertaken’.

Anna Strongman, chief executive of Oxford University Development, said she was ‘extremely proud to be bringing forward’ the university’s first building project ‘in the wake of Covid 19’.

“When complete, it will provide students with a modern, state-of-the-art facility that helps continue the University of Oxford’s legacy as one of the world’s most pre-eminent teaching institutions,” she said.

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