University of Oxford, Saïd Business School

John McAslan + Partners’ international competition-winning design for the Global Leadership Centre at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford repurposes the former Victorian power station into a world-leading residential learning complex for executive education. Harnessing the building’s industrial character and existing fabric, the project creates a low carbon state-of-the-art educational environment with an emphasis on congregation and collaboration. The interventions produce leading-edge teaching facilities and a 120-bedroom boutique residential wing within the vast shell of the 19th century building. The key design move retains the old turbine hall as an open ‘agora’ providing a vibrant collegiate meeting place at the heart of the facility promoting collaboration and engagement. The building’s sustainable performance will be greatly improved through employing Passivhaus principles, the installation of 229 photovoltaic panels on the roof and an air source heat pump which will put the building on course to run on zero-carbon in the future following its completion in 2025. 

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'John McAslan + Partners’ proposals show great vision: the practice’s interpretation of the brief effectively combines the existing historic fabric and world-class contemporary design.'

Professor Peter Tufano, Dean of the Saïd Business School