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Sensitive Redevelopment of a Former Industrial Site into High-Quality Residential Homes

SURE Architecture is the architect and lead consultant for the redevelopment of a site on Randolph Street, Oxford — a project that transforms a cluster of vacant former factory buildings into eight high-quality residential homes, delivered on behalf of our client.

The site sits at the end of Randolph Street, a quiet residential cul-de-sac off Cowley Road, within a townscape defined by two-storey brick Victorian terraces. Listed on the Oxford Heritage Asset Register, the buildings carry a strong sense of place: their non-domestic, industrial character — a legacy of past use for light manufacturing, including furniture production — reflects a period of construction spanning the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with the exterior remaining substantially intact.

Our approach balances heritage sensitivity with the practical realities of a structurally compromised building stock. Following an iterative process of massing studies and options appraisal, the scheme proposes the partial demolition of the structurally unsound elements of the site, making way for two new family dwellings and two new apartments, while the retained historic building is carefully renovated to provide a further four apartments. The result is a considered composition of old and new: a two-storey new-build apartment building, two-storey new-build family dwellings, and a three-storey refurbished apartment building, together forming eight homes with shared communal and functional space.

Landscaping frames the scheme on both sides — a new frontage along Randolph Street and a landscaped communal garden to the rear — giving residents green, usable outdoor space while reinforcing the development's connection to its residential surroundings.

The scheme has been developed to meet the requirements of the Oxford Local Plan 2036 and Oxford City Council's Supplementary Planning Guidance, reflecting our continued commitment to design that is contextually responsive, heritage-led, and rooted in sustainable urban regeneration.