Begbroke Innovation District

One ambitious target for the site is to enhance biodiversity by 20%, despite the change in land-use from agriculture to mixed urban activities. Half the site will become public open space and large areas will be converted to nature reserve, a local food production zone, parks and recreational areas – boosting plant species and wildlife.

Professor Dame EJ Milner-Gulland, Director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science, and colleagues have assessed biodiversity baselines and net gain plans at the existing Begbroke site.

Belinda Dow, who worked at BID when she was a student in the Department of Biology, drew on the BID plans for her Masters’ dissertation, exploring the benefits of potential biodiversity enhancements for the well-being of site users.

Funding is now being sought for an ambitious longitudinal study to monitor biodiversity net gain at BID over a thirty-year period, and to establish a multi-disciplinary platform for research into sustainable development at Oxford.

The BID site is also being used by the University for teaching and learning, which in turn is influencing site development.

David Wallom, Professor of Informatics and course director of Oxford’s MSc in Energy Systems, explains: ‘The Master Plan has provided an excellent teaching opportunity for the 2022-23 student cohort, who worked with engineering partner Buro Happold and Oxford University Development (the entity developing the site), on an evaluation of the Plan’s energy strategy. The evaluation looked at issues such as balancing demand on a mixed-use site, electric vehicle charging, and the complex networks needed to heat and cool homes and infrastructure.

BID’s vision includes local people participating in its design, development and operation.

The community has been invited to comment on the Master Plan, and the BID team has worked with local organisations, including Cherwell Collective and Kidlington Air Cadets, on the co-design of outreach activities. This led to the 2023 ‘Science Wonder’ programme which included Family Science days at Exeter Hall in Kidlington, and a garden party on the BID site which welcomed 1,500 guests to talk to researchers, tour existing lab spaces, and take part in a range of hands-on activities, demos and experiments.

Eleanor Mathieson, a creative strategist working on science engagement around Begbroke, comments: ‘Many people who live close to the current Science Park – including in Begbroke, Yarnton, and Kidlington – have said that they don’t know what goes on there and find it hard to see what relevance scientific research has to their daily lives. We wanted to work with companies and researchers based at Begbroke and the wider University to open up some of their fantastic innovations and research which relate to problems the community would like to solve.’

Science Wonder events have involved groups such as Cherwell Collective and Waste Innovation Station, which develops tools and activities to guide the community towards a lower carbon footprint; and Begbroke based spinouts such as OxCCU which is using CO₂ to create sustainable fuel, chemicals and plastics. Mathieson adds: ‘It’s exciting to see how these innovative approaches can help build a better future and, crucially, we want people to feel that the Innovation District is a space where they are welcome, so great ideas can be shared.’