As part of the major station upgrade on the Great Western Route, Network Rail are developing extra capacity at Oxford station. The new Western entrance has a significant footprint that may allow air rights development about. CRE8 Structures, with their considerable experience in this area, were commissioned to undertake an conceptual design for an air rights development above the station box and alongside the main line. The scheme had to be deliverable alongside the main upgrade and produce 5 storeys of office development.


The results of the study showed that it was possible to construct sufficient capacity within the station structure to enable a construction deck to be formed. This enabled the air rights development to be constructed above the operational railway after the station had gone live. The study also showed that the modest increase in cost would safeguard this option for Network Rail to activate at any time in the future.