Whilst officially a ‘city’ Oxford is, to the uninitiated, a pretty market town nestled between the Cotswolds and the Chiltern Hills. Since time immemorial, Oxford has revolved around its prestigious university and colleges, and its history is laid bare for all to see in the buildings that surround you.
Yet, despite the undeniably historical feel to its town centre, Oxford possesses a real sense of innovation and excitement. A contradiction of terms you might think, but no.
Oxford is not just a place of ideas, creativity, collaboration and innovation, it is the place for innovation, making it a ‘location in the minds of global innovators and investors,’ and home to several world-leading business and science parks.
Backed by the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (OxLEP), the organisation responsible for championing Oxfordshire’s economic potential, the city benefits significantly from a strategic approach to international inward investment.
This has seen Oxfordshire welcome multi-nationals including Moderna, who are building a 100,000 sq ft facility for its covid drug production at Harwell Science & Innovation Campus, to name but one.
Yet, Oxford is not reliant on inward investment. Many of the businesses based here are home grown thanks to the success of the university’s spinout programme.
Ranked the leading academic institution in the UK for generating spinout companies, 47% of which based themselves in Oxfordshire between 2011 and 2022, you start to get a sense of why there is an air of excitement here.
As we head towards the second quarter of 2024, there is a real sense of anticipation about the fortunes of the Oxford commercial property market. The question is, can supply keep up with demand, as Mike Watson, Oxford Agency Partner, explores.
Over the last four years, Oxford, like many towns and cities, has been hit by the perfect property storm.
The COVID-19 pandemic and its effects significantly impacted the retail market here, which just two years prior, had seen the delivery of Westgate Oxford which, in effect, doubled the city’s retail offer almost overnight and forced a seismic change to Oxford’s retail pitches.
But retail fortunes are turning and, with half a million more visitors between September and November 2023 compared with the same period in 2022, a sense of vibrancy and optimism has returned to Oxford city centre. Afterall, it was only 10 years ago that Oxford was widely thought to be the most sought-after retail location in the UK.