Laing O’Rourke has secured the contract to deliver phase 1a of Oxford North’s £700m new innovation district to deliver the Red Hall, and the first two laboratory buildings.

Oxford North life sciences district is being developed in joint venture by Thomas White Oxford, the development company of St John’s College, with Cadillac Fairview and Stanhope.

The full scheme will ultimately deliver one million sq ft of laboratory and workspaces, 480 new homes, hotel, nursery, cafes, bars, three public parks and infrastructure.

Outline planning permission for Oxford North’s masterplan and detailed planning permission for phase 1a was granted back in March 2021.

Infrastructure enabling works started in August 2021 and have been completed.

Phase 1a (pictured above) will comprise the Red Hall which will deliver 43,500 sq ft of co-working spaces for innovation starts-ups, cafe-bar, retail units and community space, and Building 1 and 2 laboratory buildings which will total 115,000 sq ft.

Phase 1a is to target practical completion in Q2 2025.

In addition, three new laboratory buildings, which total 458,000 sq ft were given the green light by Oxford City Council last month and will be delivered in phase 2.

Martin Staehr, director of building, Laing O’Rourke, said the contractor would be using off-site construction to deliver the first buildings, using components manufactured at its East Midlands factory before transporting them for assembly on-site.