r06.12.05nkp01 oxu-ld planning statement · 1.5 in addition to this planning statement, there are a...

University of Oxford Turnberry Consulting Ltd Proposed Book Depository, Osney Mead 1

UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD - PROPOSED LIBRARY DEPOSITORY OSNEY MEAD INDUSTRIAL ESTATE, OXFORD

PLANNING STATEMENT

CONTENTS Page No. 1. Introduction and Overview 3 Background and Context 3 Associated Documents 3 Structure of this Statement 4 2. Background and Context 5 The Oxford University Library System 5 Oxford University Libraries Service 6 Current Problems and Risks facing OULS 7 Library Developments at Peer Institutions 9 OULS Vision for the Libraries Service 10 Reorganisation of the University’s Library Services 11 OULS Estate Strategy 12 3. Rationale for the Proposed Book Depository 14 Existing Arrangements for Book Storage and Retrieval 14 Need for a new permanent depository facility 15 Strategic Options 18 Aims of the New Library Depository 20 Choice of Technology 21 Site Identification 22 Parameters for the Depository Design 25 4. The Proposed Site 27 Location and Access 27 Existing Use and Facilities 27 Parking, Transportation and Servicing 28 Boundaries and Adjacent Uses 29 Designations 29 5. The Proposed Development 30 Description of the Proposed Development 30 Site Layout and Masterplanning 30 Building Design and Arrangement 30 Footprint and Floorspace 31 Height and Treatment of Elevations 32 Environmental Controls 32


Transportation, and Parking Arrangements 33 Landscaping 33 Flood Mitigation Measures 34 Charging the Depository with Materials 34 Proposed Use and Operation 35 6. Planning History 37 7. Planning Policy Context 39 Development Plan Framework 39 Local Plan Policy Considerations 39 Education 39 Core Policies 40 Economic Policies 42 Historic Environment Policies 43 Transport Policies 43 Natural Environment Policies 44 8. Planning Appraisal 46 Proposed Use 46 Visual Impact 47 Flood Risk and Environmental Considerations 48 Design Considerations 48 Access, Parking and Circulation 49 Landscape Issues 49 9. Summary and Conclusions 52 APPENDICES 1. Copy of the Planning Application Form and Certificates 2. Library Strategy Exhibition Panels 3. Transportation Briefing Note 4. Photographs of ASRS Systems currently in use in other libraries 5. Environment Agency Letter


1. INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW Background and Context 1.1 This Planning Statement forms part of the supporting information associated with

a detailed planning application for the construction of a new Library Depository building at the Osney Mead Industrial Estate in Oxford. A copy of the planning application form and certificates is included at Appendix 1.

1.2 The application has been submitted on behalf of the University of Oxford. In this

respect, the University’s Estates Directorate (OUED) are acting on behalf of Oxford University Library Services (OULS).

1.3 This Statement has been prepared by Turnberry Consulting Ltd, with support

from the scheme’s architect, Scott Brownrigg and other members of the Design Team.

1.4 The proposals have been the subject of a wide ranging consultation exercise

within the University and were outlined in more detail in a recent exhibition in the foyer of the New Bodleian. The purpose of the exhibition was to outline to staff and students of the University the key strategic proposals for the future development and delivery of library services for the University of Oxford, and explains why further improvements for the continued safe preservation of University collections are essential. A selection of the exhibition panels which outline the key challenges currently facing the University’s library services and the Library Estate Strategy for dealing with these are included at Appendix 2.

Associated Documents

1.5 In addition to this Planning Statement, there are a number of other documents which have been submitted in support of the application, and which are referred to elsewhere in this Statement. These comprise:

• Design Statement, prepared by Scott Brownrigg, which includes

comments in respect of accessibility; • Outline Specification for Landscape Works, prepared by Macgregor

Smith; • Verified Views Report, prepared by Design Hive in collaboration with Scott

Brownrigg; • A Flood Risk Assessment, prepared by Peter Brett Associates;

• Natural Resources Impact Analysis, prepared by OUED;


• Environmental Noise Survey, carried out by Lee Cunningham Partnership on behalf of Gifford and Partners, the Building Services Engineers; and

• Site Investigation Report, carried out on behalf of Price and Myers, the

Structural Engineers for the project. 1.6 In addition, a Transportation Briefing Note is included at Appendix 3 of this

Statement. Structure of this Statement

1.7 The remainder of this Statement adopts the following structure: 1.8 Section 2 provides background details about the University of Oxford, and in

particular its integrated Library Service, and explores the current position in respect of the University’s many libraries. This section highlights the current issues facing the University’s Library Services in relation to its current estate, and its ability to meet the high environmental standards required for book storage, particularly of legal deposit material, and the urgent need to provide additional storage capacity for its growing collections. This section also provides an overview of the current Library Estate Strategy, of which the proposed Library Depository is the first scheme in a series of planned development and refurbishment projects to be brought forward, with a view to improving the service provided by the University’s Library Services.

1.9 Section 3 explores the rationale for the current library depository proposals, and

describes the process of how the brief for the building was developed. This section also outlines the site search process carried out by the University in order to identify a suitable site for the development of a new book depository.

1.10 Section 4 describes the proposed site for the new Depository building, including

details of its location, access arrangements, existing buildings, and context in respect of adjacent land uses.

1.11 Section 5 sets out details of the proposals, and associated site improvements. 1.12 Section 6 provides relevant details from the site’s planning history. 1.13 Section 7 outlines the planning policy considerations which will be relevant to

the assessment of the current planning application, and Section 8 sets out the planning case for the application proposals.

1.14 Section 9 provides a brief summary and conclusions.


2.0 BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT THE APPLICANT The Oxford University Library System 2.1 The University’s library system in Oxford has played a significant role in the

cultural and intellectual life of the world for over 400 years. Alongside the British Library, the University of Oxford has the most important and extensive library collections in the UK, and one of the best university collections worldwide. These libraries continue to grow - stock growth is currently over 5.2 kilometres per year.

2.2 The Oxford University and Collegiate library service is an extremely rich and

diverse entity provided by 120 libraries. There are major research libraries, as well as libraries attached to the faculties, departments and other institutions of the University, and college libraries.

2.3 The Bodleian Library, the foremost among the University’s libraries, first

opened to scholars in 1602. As well as the central Bodleian Library site, the Bodleian includes several other units: the Radcliffe Science Library, the Bodleian Law Library, the Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House, the Vere Harmsworth Library, and several libraries responsible for the Oriental collections. It also administers the Hooke Science Lending Library and the Philosophy Library, which are primarily lending libraries for undergraduates.

2.4 The Bodleian Library itself is of great national and international significance, being

one of the six libraries accorded legal deposit status in British legislation. Until the founding of the British Museum Library in 1759, it acted as a precursor to the national library, receiving gifts of important manuscripts and books, both for preservation and to ensure access for scholars. The Library still draws scholars to Oxford from the whole world. The Library is entitled to receive a free copy of every book, periodical, and newspaper published in Britain, and acquires over 300,000 items each year. Its 7,500,000 volumes occupy 188 km (117 miles) of shelving.

2.5 The central Bodleian site comprises the Old Bodleian Library, the New

Bodleian library building (principally a book store facility), the Clarendon Building (currently being refurbished as the library service administrative base), and the Radcliffe Camera. The Radcliffe Camera was originally built in 1749 as an independent library but now accommodates Bodleian reading rooms. The Radcliffe Camera and the Bodleian area constitute the historic heart of the University of Oxford, including its oldest teaching and examination room (the Divinity School built 1427-88).


2.6 The New Bodleian Library, a Giles Gilbert Scott building, houses extensive research collections built up over four centuries through legal deposit, benefaction and purchase, and contains six major reading rooms. It was completed in 1940 and provided additional book storage, reading room and office space for the Bodleian Library. It has an eleven-storey bookstack, which contains 3.5 million volumes on over ninety kilometres of shelving, together with over 1.2 million maps. The majority of these materials were acquired by legal deposit and form a key part of the national published archive. The Library’s special collections of rare books and manuscripts are of international importance and contain much that is unique and irreplaceable.

2.7 In addition to the Bodleian, the Sackler Library and the Taylor Institution

Library have an essential role as research libraries. The new Sackler Library is located on the west side of the Ashmolean Museum and houses collections of books on Classics, Archaeology and History of Art. The Taylor Institution was established as a centre for modern languages in the 1840s and has long been the centre in Oxford for teaching and research on medieval and modern continental European languages, literatures and related fields, and is a focal point for many in the UK concerned with these studies. Its Library of over 500,000 books is the largest separate collection in the modern European languages field in Britain. In the recent past, new buildings such as the Social Science Library and the Sainsbury Library at the Saïd Business School have emerged as welcome additions, consolidating collections in new buildings. The Vere Harmsworth Library was created as part of the Rothermere American Institute as a new home for one of the finest holdings of American history, politics and government outside North America.

Oxford University Library Services

2.8 The University’s library provision has grown in a piecemeal fashion since the Second World War, generally as a result of departments and faculties developing their own independent libraries, largely uncoordinated with the major research collections in the Bodleian Library Group and Taylor Institution Library. Though some of these were controlled through the Libraries Board, it was only in 2000 that the OULS was formed to provide a single organisational framework into which these libraries could be integrated.

2.9 The Oxford University Library Services (OULS) is governed by the Curators of

the University Libraries (a committee of the University Council) and managed by the Director of University Library Services and Bodley’s Librarian. It has a staff of 600 full-time equivalent employees.

2.10 OULS is still a highly distributed library system. OULS facilities constitute a

significant portion of the collegiate University’s 120 libraries. Forty of the 80 centrally-funded University libraries are managed by OULS, and operate on forty-five sites. These include the major research and faculty libraries and a growing


number of incorporated departmental libraries. The combined collections of the OULS number more than 11 million printed items, in addition to the vast quantities of materials in every other conceivable format. Owing to the large number of sites, recurrent costs are relatively high - OULS’s operating budget for 2005-6 is over £28.7 million.

2.11 OULS also provides a range of electronic resources, with continuous networked

access through the OxLIP interface to ejournals, databases, reference tools, manuscripts, archives, maps and many other materials in digital form.

2.12 College libraries vary widely in the size and quantity of their stock but include

well-organised collections of considerable value. Undergraduate college libraries have a responsibility to serve their own undergraduates in all disciplines, and access is generally restricted to college members. In addition to their undergraduate holdings, many contain diverse and important special collections.

2.13 The University has recognised, for a number of years, the benefits that might be

expected to flow from the development of a more unified and more rationally organised library system involving the many libraries funded by the University. From the Shackleton Report in 1966, the Nicholas Report of 1987, and the principal recommendations of the Thomas and Kenny Reports of 1995 regarding the future development of the Oxford University Library System, it is clear that the radically new organisational structure of the OULS was a carefully considered concept, and one specifically designed to bring about a more integrated, more efficient, and more user-friendly library service.

Current Problems and Risks Facing OULS

2.12 In order to understand the need for and rational behind the proposed Book Depository proposals, it is important to have an appreciation of the wider issues and problems facing the University’s Library Services, both in general terms and in respect of specific buildings which currently make up its Estate. These are set out in more detail on the Library Strategy Exhibition Board included at Appendix 2, and are summarised here.

2.13 The practical problems within the existing library buildings are many and varied.

Some can be dealt with by upgrading and reordering of existing spaces and services, but most of the problems will only be solved by radical improvements to the physical estate. The current problems and risks facing OULS can be broadly categories into the following categories:

• Insufficient space to accommodate a growing collection; • Poor quality of existing library storage; • A fragmented and costly library estate; • Staff working conditions; • Lack of computer facilities; and


• Lack of access for people with disabilities. 2.15 Insufficient space to accommodate a growing collection – The University’s

Council recently reaffirmed the University’s 400-year commitment to the Bodleian continuing as a library of legal deposit. Stock growth in OULS libraries is over 3 miles (5.2 km) per year, and shows no sign of declining. The University’s library collections have outgrown the space available in existing stores and central research libraries and OULS has already been forced to move certain collections into temporary storage elsewhere across the UK.

2.14 Poor quality of existing library storage - Specifically the stacks in the new

Bodleian (which now contain the equivalent of 3.5 million volumes) do not meet current requirements for either the general or Special Collections. The University’s licence from The National Archives has been extended only temporarily, and if improvements are not made shortly, the University will lose its right to hold some existing deposited manuscript collections, and the privilege of receiving future collections of manuscripts on behalf of the nation, and grants to support them. The University currently has the second most important and extensive library collection in the UK, and one of the best university collections worldwide. The situation is also serious in many of the open-shelf libraries, with shelves overloaded, books stacked in aisles, and cramped conditions for readers and library staff.

2.15 Fragmented and costly library estate - The University has a fragmented and

costly library estate, operating on almost eighty sites and housed in many cases in old, and in some instances cramped and poorly-adapted, premises. Some departmental libraries have inadequate space for readers and insufficient space for stock growth. Small libraries are not able to offer the range of services and longer opening hours now required by students to support their learning. Some of the larger historic libraries are badly in need of refurbishment or replacement to meet modern health and safety standards and to provide access for disabled users. There are also, inevitably, duplications in staffing and stock. The proposed library estate plan will lead to an estimated net reduction in library space, while delivering improved services.

2.16 It is estimated that staffing costs could be reduced by up to £2m overall, with

savings made through staff turnover, redeployment of staff to other jobs within the University, and by extensive use of automated storage and retrieval. Underlying the proposed estate plan is however a desire to enhance existing service levels to users of the University’s Library Services.

2.17 Difficult working conditions for staff – Library staff spend a good deal of their

time manually handling books from one place to another. This can be heavy physical work, which is to some extent unavoidable as individual books can be large and heavy. At times it entails carrying books up and down spiral or public


stairways. There is also a widespread problem of high bookshelves in many of the libraries, which require the use of stepladders of one form or another, which raise particular problems on balconies, where the risk of injury from a fall is greatly increased. The lack of space makes many staff areas very crowded, and working space is shared with stacks of material to be catalogued or otherwise sorted. Many working areas are in underground stacks where there is no natural light.

2.20 Lack of Computer Facilities - Too few of the older libraries have sufficient

space for modern IT facilities, either to accommodate readers’ own laptops or to install sufficient PCs and printers.

2.21 Disabled Access - The Disability Discrimination Act as amended by the Special

Educational Needs and Disability Act requires the University to give equal access to the library facilities to all students and other library users regardless of any disability and also to make whatever modifications are necessary to allow for the employment of disabled members of staff. The fact that the libraries are largely housed in old buildings, many of them listed as being of outstanding historic interest, makes this extremely difficult. Many of the libraries are up steps, or have galleries or reading rooms on upper floors where no lifts are available. The Library Service copes with this by offering support to disabled students and bringing books to areas that are accessible – but this is far from ideal and is likely to be increasingly criticised by users with disabilities.

Library Developments at Peer Institutions

2.23 The concerns regarding the University’s twentieth-century library infrastructure become more acute when one looks at developments that have been progressed at some of the University’s peer institutions. These include:

• Harvard – a $90 million five-year renovation project for the Widener

Library, the University’s 3-million-volume flagship library; • Yale – a $150 million renovation project of the University’s Sterling

Memorial Library; • Columbia – a phased project to renovate the Butler Library, the largest of

the University’s 22 libraries, of which the first two phases are now complete. Phase three is currently underway, at a cost in the region of $110 million;

• Cambridge – the University has implemented a series of extensions over

the last 20 years to meet the need for increased storage space and growing demands of readers at an estimated cost of £35 million;


• Trinity College, Dublin – Renovation of the Ussher library in 2003 at a cast of 26 million Euros.

2.35 By comparison, Oxford’s main library has not received the kind of major upgrade

and refurbishment from which the libraries at a number of Oxford’s competitor institutions have benefited.

OULS Vision for the Libraries Service

2.22 The Mission Statement for the Oxford University Library Services is:

“To provide the most effective university library service possible, in response to current and future users’ needs; and to maintain and develop access to Oxford’s collections as a national and international research resource.”

2.24 In seeking to deliver this mission, OULS is aiming to embark upon a period of

very considerable and significant change in the seven-year period to 2012, in order to support to the fullest extent the University’s aspiration, as expressed in its Academic Strategy, to retain, and ultimately increase, its standing among the small group of truly world class universities.

2.25 The current five year strategic plan entitled “Vision for 2010” was published as a

supplement to the 24 June 2005 Oxford University Gazette. The strategy seeks to address a number of key demands, amongst which are:

• the need to increase the storage capacity for collections; • the need to improve the conditions in which collections are held; • the need to enhance services to users by providing better access to

collections, including longer opening hours, browseable stock, increased lending and stack calls;

• the need to expand electronic and digitised collections; and • the need to make the most cost effective use of resources.

2.25 What is being proposed in response to these demands is an integrated estates and

collections strategy which is expected to take 5 - 7 years to implement fully. The aim is that services to users will be improved and developed across OULS and coordinated in such a manner that consistent, effective and timely delivery is the norm throughout the system. Services will take account of users’ needs to a much greater extent than is currently the case. Staff providing the services will have relevant skills, will work flexibly and will be appropriately located within the library system.

2.26 Implementation of the Strategy will herald the development of needs-based

approach to library materials resource allocation in place of the old practice of historic allocation, and unnecessary duplication of library materials will cease. Where appropriate, OULS will enter into collaborative collection management


agreements with other UK research libraries in order that users of the University’s library service can have access to a comprehensive network of distributed national collections of library research resources. In parallel, in co-operation with other legal deposit libraries, OULS will be increasingly selective about its intake of legal deposit material.

2.27 The Curators of the University Libraries have made a business case to the

University for a major capital investment programme for the Libraries Estate, with five main objectives:

• to increase the accessibility of library collections; • to increase the storage capacity for the collections; • to improve greatly the conditions in which collections are held; • to bring together in a more cost-effective way currently dispersed activities;

and • to expand very substantially the electronic content available to University

members, by purchase of more electronic journals and datasets, and by digitising older material to improve access to historic collections.

2.28 The buildings and refurbishment programme to meet these objectives of the new

Libraries Strategy is described in more detail later in this section.

Reorganisation of the University’s Library Services 2.29 Following a review chaired by Sir Brian Follett, the Council of the University

confirmed its policy of library integration in February 2003, indicating its wish that the integration of libraries into OULS be accelerated, with the process to be complete by the end of 2007. Led by this policy, the OULS estates strategy focuses on a reduced number of sites, and a reorganisation of the estate into a hub and satellite system. An illustration of this can be found within the Library Exhibition Boards included at Appendix 2.

2.30 The hub and satellite concept is a strategic consolidation of the libraries estate

into 5 subject “hub” sites (reflecting the structure of the University’s teaching) and a central book depository:

• Sciences – based at the Radcliffe Science Library; • Medicine – based at the Cairns Library at the John Radcliffe Infirmary; • Social Sciences – a new Social Science Library • Humanities – a new library based at the Radcliffe Infirmary site; • Central Bodleian – comprising the New Bodleian, Radcliffe Camera, and

Clarendon Building; and • A Central Book Depository – for OULS support operations.


2.31 These hub sites will be supplemented by smaller, more specialist “satellite” sites: for example, for Social Sciences the hub is the Social Science Library, with the Sainsbury Library at the Saïd Business School and the Vere Harmsworth Library amongst its satellites.

2.32 Reorganisation of the estate into a hub and satellite system will allow

concentrated provision for research to be made at the hub sites, and, where appropriate, place library resources tailored for undergraduate and taught postgraduate study and first-level research on satellite sites. The intention is that lower-use material will be delivered rapidly from the proposed depository to central library sites, as required, and for subjects that require it, an increased proportion of higher-use stock will be made available on open access shelving. Electronic delivery will be the most common means of access to research materials, certainly in the sciences and medicine.

2.33 The aim of the hub and satellite strategy, as outlined in the OULS Vision for 2010

document, is a more integrated, coherent and coordinated service in terms of both physical estate and management structure. It will be a much leaner organisation providing value for money and offering high quality services matching the aspirations of a world-class university.

2.34 The first of the hubs is already in place: the Social Science Library. The Social

Science Library opened in September 2004 as part of the Centre for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences designed by Norman Foster. Essentially, the new library is a merger of previously separate collections in Criminology, Economics, Politics & International Relations, Sociology, Social Policy and Socio-Legal Studies. The library fulfils a dual role as the lending/reference library for social science undergraduates (mainly PPE students) and research centre for postgraduate students and academics. In addition to the library’s own lending collection, readers are also able to order non-antiquarian items from Bodleian stock to the Social Science Library.

OULS Estate Strategy

2.36 To support the wider libraries strategy, and in particular the reorganisation of the library services into the hub and satellite system, and to provide an appropriate solution for the long term storage of library materials, OULS are proposing an ambitious buildings and refurbishment programme. This comprises the following key projects, which are described in outline below:

• A new book depository – which is the subject of the current planning

application. The proposed site for the new library depository is at Osney Mead, where the library service is already basing its support operations. The proposed depository is intended to provide for the current shortfall in book storage, to allow for future growth to 2026, and to take decanted materials required for the redevelopment of the New Bodleian.


• Upgrading and redeveloping the New Bodleian Library - The New

Bodleian Library building is in urgent need of upgrading to modern standards, appropriate for one of the largest and most important repositories of historic and legal deposit materials in the world. Work on this project falls under various key areas - environmental control and fire safety; remodeling and up-grading of reading rooms; and refurbishment, and extension of the book conveyor.

• A new Humanities and Area Studies Library on the Radcliffe Infirmary site - Coverage will depend on which faculties move to the RI site. From a purely operational and financial perspective, the maximum advantage would be achieved if all twelve existing OULS Humanities and Area Studies libraries (plus Mathematics) could be merged into one large library on this site.

• Remodelling the Radcliffe Science and Hooke Libraries - Combining the Radcliffe Science Library and the Hooke Library to create an integrated Science lending and reference library.

• Building a new Medical Library on the Old Road site to complement existing provision at the Cairns John Radcliffe while replacing three existing libraries (ORC, Churchill and RI site medical libraries) - The aim is to concentrate the four existing libraries on to two sites, the present Cairns Library at the John Radcliffe site, and a new Medical Research and Information Centre on the Old Road site, combining services currently delivered through the Churchill Hospital, Radcliffe Infirmary and Old Road site libraries.

• A new conservation facility - The final strand in the OULS estates strategy is to re-house the library’s conservation facilities, currently inadequately accommodated across scattered sites, in the remodeled New Bodleian.

2.36 Of all of the capital and refurbishment projects identified in the Libraries Estate

Strategy, the most urgent need is for the construction of the new book depository. The depository is a vital component of the OULS estates strategy development programme, and is the key initial project without which the other major capital projects in the programme, such as the much needed refurbishment of the New Bodleian, cannot be carried out.


3.0 RATIONALE FOR THE PROPOSED BOOK DEPOSITORY

Existing Arrangements for Book Storage and Retrieval 3.1 Though the New Bodleian stacks were intended to provide one hundred years’

growth, the additional storage lasted only sixty years. Beginning in the late 1960s a remote store was developed at Nuneham Courtenay, 8 miles to the south of Oxford, with the intention of providing up to forty years’ expansion.

3.2 The repository is serviced by two vans operated by OULS, which shuttle back

and forth between the Nuneham Courtney repository and the central Oxford library sites (2 van runs each way per day). Material is stacked and retrieved by hand from the series of moveable shelving stacks, which are manually operated.

3.3 The book store (or repository) is located within the former walled kitchen garden

of Nuneham Hall, which is located within South Oxfordshire District. Nuneham Hall itself is a Grade II* Listed Building. Nuneham Park, the grounds of Nunham Hall which include the kitchen garden, are registered as Grade I on the Register of Park and Gardens of Special Historic Interest. The site of the existing repository also falls within the Nuneham Courtney Conservation Area and lies within the Oxford Green Belt.

3.4 The repository has been expanded several times, in an attempt to keep pace with

the growing need for additional storage space, however getting planning approval at the site has always been problematic, and several permissions were granted at appeal.

3.5 In 1968 outline planning permission was first granted for the erection of a single

or two-storey building for use as a book repository. In October 1970 detailed permission was granted for the first phase of the development, in the southern section of the walled garden. South Oxfordshire District Council refused subsequent applications in the early 1980s to extend the book repository to the east, and then also to the west and north, into the central section of the garden. The applications were subsequently considered at appeal. The appeal Inspector allowed for the erection of two modules to the east and four modules to the west of the existing repository modules, but refused permission for three modules in the central part of the gardens.

3.6 The Nuneham Courtenay repository currently holds 1.3 million volumes, and is

operating at well over capacity. The existing book store has no space to cope with the continued growth of collections.

3.7 The latest attempt to extend the existing repository was by way of a planning

application for five additional storage modules, which was submitted to South Oxfordshire in January 2003. This was accompanied by an application for Listed Building Consent for the demolition of the existing derelict and redundant


glasshouses and stores and associated alterations to the listed structures in the walled garden to facilitate the development.

3.8 The application attracted a wide range of objections from organisations including

English Heritage, The Georgian Group, and Oxford Preservation Trust, as well as from adjacent neighbours. Through discussions with officers it was established that the Council was not minded to grant permission, and the University withdrew the applications. The officer’s report, which recommended refusal of the planning application, cited a number of issues to support this stance, including:

• The inappropriateness of the proposed development in the Green Belt; • An unacceptable impact on the character and appearance of the setting of the

Listed Hall, the Registered garden, and the Conservation Area; • The fact that the proposed buildings would be out of keeping with the scale

and proportion of the curtilage structures, and were considered to be inappropriate and intrusive ;

• The development would be detrimental to visual amenity of the area and would be un-neighbourly by reason of being overbearing and oppressive to nearby dwelling houses; and

• The fact that the Inspector, in respect of the earlier appeal, whilst allowing some development to the east and west of the existing modules, had refused planning permission for an extension to the north into the central part of the kitchen garden.

3.9 South Oxfordshire District Council has indicated that proposals for further

storage modules at the Nuneham Courtney site would be refused. The current bookstore at Nuneham Courtney cannot therefore be extended.

3.10 With the lack of space at Nuneham Courtenay, material has accumulated in the

New Bodleian stack, and this in turn has inhibited access to certain parts of the stack for book fetching.

Need for a New Permanent Depository Facility

3.11 In essence, there are three strategic drivers behind the need for a new Depository:

• Accommodating the growth in collections; • Decanting stock from buildings during refurbishment; and • Consolidation of the OULS estate.

3.12 Growth in Collections - OULS collections grow at a rate of approximately

175,000 volumes1 each year, which equates to 5.2 km or 3.25 miles of shelving

1 ' Volume ' is used to mean a standard 'nominal' volume, equating to a Bodleian Nicholson 'd' size book which can be shelved at 34 books to the metre.


per annum. Approximately 52% of this comprises the Bodleian’s intake of material received through Legal Deposit.

3.13 There is now insufficient space in OULS to accommodate this growth. The New

Bodleian Library Bookstack, OULS’s single largest book store now contains 30% more stock than it was designed to hold (3.5 million volumes as opposed to a design capacity of 2,700,000). The Radcliffe Science Library and Bodleian Law Libraries are full. The Nuneham Courtenay Book repository is full and an application for planning permission to develop a second phase of storage modules that would have provided approximately 50km of additional storage, was rejected in December 2003 because the facility is considered by the planning authority to have reached its maximum operational size on this rural site.

3.14 With no space for growth in any of its stores or central library stacks, OULS has

been forced in 2004-5 OULS to transfer lower use stock from Nuneham Courtenay to commercial archive stores in Cheshire and Wiltshire in order to create space for new acquisitions. Material currently stored commercially is low use and retrieval rates are also low. OULS has needed to transfer further stock to commercial storage during 2005 and will have to continue to outhouse lower use stock like this until the proposed new Depository is completed. An increase in expenditure on retrieval will be needed as more heavily used stock has to be out-housed.

3.15 At present, approximately 150,000 volumes (4.2 km) have been “out-housed”.

These temporary measures are expensive (of the order of £110K pa), and the use of funds in this way does not provide for the urgently needed longer-term solution for storage that would be afforded by a new permanent depository with capacity for housing existing lesser-used stock in proper storage conditions, and for accommodating stock growth over the next twenty years.

3.16 Constant growth has been a feature of Oxford’s major libraries and has been a

major driver in the development of the library estate. The Underground Bookstore in Radcliffe Square was constructed in 1912 to provide some 1,000,000 volumes worth of additional storage for collections which had outgrown the Old Bodleian Library. As currently shelved out, the Underground Bookstore provides capacity for 626,000 volumes. Again, in 1937-39, the New Bodleian was built to provide 100 years of storage for continuing collection growth, but it was full in less than 60 years. The most recent phase of storage construction began in 1974 with the development of low level storage modules at Nuneham Courtenay. However this latest increase in capacity has also been used up.


3.17 Decanting Stock from existing building to facilitate refurbishment - Much of OULS’s estate comprises older buildings, which are expensive to operate and which, in many cases, fail to provide adequate storage conditions for stock as well as appropriate conditions for users. A new permanent depository facility could provide essential storage capacity for library materials to facilitate the implementation of the other major refurbishment projects outlined in the library Estates Strategy. Additional book storage capacity is needed to hold decanted collections during, for example, the renovation of the New Bodleian stack, and the transfer of materials from existing Science Libraries into the redeveloped Radcliffe Science Library.

3.18 In particular, the New Bodleian, OULS’s principal store and the second largest

book repository in the UK, fails to meet current standards for the storage of library material (BS 5454:2000). The building has no inherent fire protection and no fire suppression system. Its construction is inherently unsafe due to the air gaps between its floors, which would create the effect of a chimney in the event of a fire. Its air conditioning system, which serves only 60% of its storage areas, is now 20 years old, overdue for replacement and fails to provide the required carefully controlled levels of temperature and relative humidity. As a result, the New Bodleian’s collections are deteriorating. The building’s basic services are old, at risk of failing and in urgent need of replacement. Regular water leaks through the bitumen tanking are causing localized damage to stock. The Paternoster Book Conveyor which forms a vital link between the Old and New Bodleian is now 60 years old and frequently breaks down, resulting in interrupted services to readers. It badly needs a major refurbishment including the replacement of its monitoring equipment.

3.19 The National Archives, which awards approved status to institutions holding

manuscript material deposited in lieu of Death Duty, requires the Bodleian to make significant improvements to the conditions provided in the New Bodleian in order to maintain its approval. A temporary extension of its approval has been awarded but this expires in 2008. The loss of National Archives Approved Status would have far reaching consequences for the Bodleian and its ability to attract important collections would be diminished. The loss of reputation to the University of Oxford would have a significant effect on its ability to attract both faculty and students.

3.20 Major refurbishment work in the New Bodleian would require the temporary

decanting of all the 3.5 million volumes it contains, for a period of up to three years. As part of this refurbishment it is proposed that the New Bodleian would undergo a major transformation to become a Special Collections library, and a major part of its current stock would be permanently transferred to the depository and to the Radcliffe Infirmary site. However, at least 1.2 million volumes of Special Collections material would need to be stored temporarily and returned to the New Bodleian Bookstack following the completion of works.


3.21 Consolidation of the OULS Estate – As highlighted in the previous section,

OULS is a currently highly distributed library system with 40 libraries and support services operating on 45 sites. Together, OULS’s many sites house over 11,000,000 volumes and are managed by a staff of 600 FTEs. Owing to the large number of sites, recurrent costs are relatively high. In February 2003 the Council of the University confirmed its policy of library integration. The OULS Estate Strategy therefore focuses on moving to a more centralised, integrated system, where library services are delivered on a reduced number of sites, with a reduced number of staff, and making greatly increase use of electronic resources and open access to hard-copy library resources.

3.22 The current division between offsite and city centre storage does not reflect

patterns of usage. At present 89% of the Library Services' 11 million volumes is stored in the city-centre libraries, yet evidence from circulation data suggests that a far smaller percentage of stock is regularly used. For instance, in the science collections the proportion of hard-copy borrowing collections that has been consulted within the last three years is as low as 20% in some subjects.

3.23 Relocating lower-use material to the proposed offsite depository would reduce

the space required by city-centre collections and the cost of storage. It would allow better presentation of the remaining material on open access, together with better targeted local stack storage, on a reduced number of sites.

Strategic Options

3.24 A review of the current issues and risks facing the Libraries Service carried out by OULS concluded that a large-scale, high-capacity library depository is urgently required in order to accommodate growth in collections. The established aim is to provide sufficient capacity to house the University’s storage requirements for the next 20 years (to 2026).

3.25 In coming to this conclusion, OLUS considered a range of potential options to

overcome the acute need for additional storage, comprising:

• Do nothing; • Use commercial storage; • Construct additional on-site storage; and • Construct additional off-site storage

3.26 Do nothing - Without the provision of large scale additional storage OULS

would be unable to continue its current operations. Without growth space it would be forced to become steady state, discarding older material in order to acquire new stock. The Bodleian’s role as a national library of Legal Deposit could not be sustained and the library would lose its National Archives approved status and the deposited collections it currently holds. OULS would be unable to


achieve the efficiency gains engendered in its estate strategy and funding could not be released to extend or improve its services.

3.27 Use Commercial Storage - Commercial storage is too expensive. Using

commercial storage to house the 8.3 million volumes OULS wishes to store remotely by 2026 would be likely to cost £6.4 million per annum (at current day prices), which is prohibitive. This cost estimate excludes the cost of initial delivery and final withdrawal of stock, and retrievals and replacements for reader consultations. Any increase in desired retrieval rates for the out-housed stock would be likely to result in the University having to pay a commercial organisation to develop just the kind of storage and retrieval facility that is proposed here.

3.28 Constructing Additional On-site Storage - Constructing additional storage

within existing library buildings would be prohibitively expensive and would not deliver the efficiencies possible in a new development using high-density industrial methods. Even if practical proposals could be identified, planning permission and listed building consents would be required to carry out most extensions, and storage systems would be constrained as a result. OULS storage would continue to be distributed inefficiently across the system, and staffing costs would remain high. The high costs of providing and operating such onsite extensions (for example to the Taylor Institution Library or the basement of the Radcliffe Science Library) could not be justified for low use stock.

3.29 Additional city centre book storage can only be justified for higher use material,

such as stock identified for the proposed Humanities Library on the Radcliffe Infirmary Site.

3.30 Constructing Additional Off-site Storage – The option of constructing a

depository offsite provides the greatest scope for large-scale, high-density storage and would allow OULS to take maximum advantage of industrial technologies to improve retrieval efficiencies, and reduce costs which would allow funds to be transferred to other uses. Capital and recurrent costs could be brought to the lowest level, appropriate for less used stock. By designing a single new-build facility, staffing levels could also be kept low and appropriate storage conditions and security could be provided at a cost-effective rate per book.

3.31 To enable the University to maximize the efficiency savings across the OULS

system, it was concluded that an offsite depository would need to be a single building capable of storing existing lesser used material and providing growth space for at least 15 to 20 years as required by BS5454. Any off-site depository would however need to be sited close enough to allow rapid delivery without major transport cost or disruption from traffic congestion.


Aims of the New Library Depository 3.32 The University’s proposals to build a new depository at Osney Mead, will use

ASRS (Automated Storage and Retrieval System) technology. The depository will have capacity for at least 8.25 million equivalent volumes, and will, when complete, provide for immediate housing of 4.3 million equivalent volumes, plus twenty years’ growth capacity (to 2026).

3.33 The stock which would be permanently located at the proposed site is currently

stored in the New Bodleian (1-2 million volumes out of a total there of 3.5 million, depending on the scope of the New Bodleian project), at Nuneham Courtenay (1.3 million), in the Camera underground bookstore (0.6 million), in the Radcliffe Science Library (0.5 million), and in various other locations (0.4 million).

3.34 The consolidation of stock from the currently fragmented storage will allow

reductions in recurrent staff and space costs. 3.35 The intention is to use the initial spare capacity in the new Depository to decant

the whole of the permanent New Bodleian stock to allow for the redevelopment of the stack. Space released in the New Bodleian stack will allow for remodelling of this building to provide for more open-shelf stock and enhanced reader facilities, with greatly improved storage for Special Collections.

3.36 Removal of the existing stock held at Nuneham Courtenay will release this space

for alternative uses, such as storage of secondary museum collections. The development of the new depository will also allow for the Camera underground store would also be vacated.

3.37 In summary, the Library Depository project will allow OULS to achieve a number

of strategic goals: • To provide growth space for OULS collections to 2026;

• To scale back or close operations at the existing repository at Nuneham

Courtenay, which is much less efficient to operate than the proposed depository, and which cannot be expanded;

• To accommodate a large amount of stock permanently transferred from the New Bodleian bookstack and the Bodleian’s Underground Bookstore to allow early improvements in operational efficiency;

• To house further stock temporarily decanted from the New Bodleian bookstack to allow the building to undergo the extensive refurbishment and remodelling required to ensure it meets current standards and maintains its


Approved Status from The National Archives for holding national collections;

• To enable the transfer of Humanities faculty libraries to the Radcliffe Infirmary site through the decanting of lower-use stock to the depository; and

• To enable the remodelling and rearrangement of the Radcliffe Science Library and Hooke Library and the consolidation on that site of departmental science libraries.

Choice of Technology

3.38 A working group of staff at OULS have considered many options in formulating the proposal for a new depository. A specialist logistics company, Total Logistics, was engaged to determine the nature of storage system needed to meet the desired operating characteristics and provide the densest storage medium.

3.39 A series of options was considered, including:

• a multi-storey building with mobile shelving; • multi-storey standard fixed shelving (as used in the New Bodleian); • staffed cranes operating in high-bay storage (as used at Harvard); and • automated cranes operating in high-bay storage (as first used by California

State University Library, Northridge) 3.40 The first two options were rejected due to the high building cost, coupled with

long term higher staffing levels. In addition, the cost of services needed to maintain environmental conditions over some 5 floors would be considerably more expensive than in a normal warehouse configuration. The staffed cranes option was also rejected because, although the building would be a single floor high bay warehouse, ‘man-up’ cranes need to be significantly wider and thus storage density is much lower requiring a greater volume, and hence a building with a much larger footprint.

3.41 The review concluded that an ASRS would be the most cost efficient option,

because of its high-bay configuration, coupled with lower staffing levels. In addition this configuration allows the maximum density of storage, and thus minimises the size of site required for the new building. In un-staffed storage spaces it is easier and cheaper to maintain control of environmental conditions and better systems for fire safety can be provided.

3.42 ASRS is commonplace in the warehousing and distribution sectors. There are

some fourteen library stores in existence worldwide that currently use this technology, and another ten are under development. The British Library is


developing a major high-bay ASRS store at Boston Spa in Yorkshire, on a similar scale to that proposed here, which is scheduled to be in operation by late 2008.

3.43 Photographs of existing ASRS systems in other library situations are included at

Appendix 4. Table 3.1 below provides details of other libraries around the world which have implemented, or are developing, ASRS systems.

Table 3.1 Examples of ASRS Systems in the Library Sector

Other Libraries with ASRS systems installed include:

• CSUN Oviatt Library, Northridge, California; • Bruce T. Halle Library, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan; • Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Michigan; • Sonoma State University, Sonoma, California; • Lied Library, Las Vegas, Nevada; • Mildred Topp Othmer Library, Tokyo, Japan; • Meiji University, New Central Library, Tokyo, Japan; • Kansai-Kan, National Diet Library, Tokyo, Japan; • National Library of Norway, Mo-I-Rana, Norway; • Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Indiana; • Merrill Library, Utah State University, Logan, Utah; • Church of the Latter Day Saints Library, Salt Lake City, Utah; • National Library of Spain, Barcelona; and • King County Library System, Preston, Washington (State).

Libraries currently building ASRS systems include:

• Chicago State University, Chicago, Illinois; • Ekstrom Library, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky; • Irving K Barber Learning Centre, British Columbia, Canada; and • Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, California.

Libraries Currently Planning ASRS systems:

• British Library, Boston Spa, England; • Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada; • Long Beach, California State University, Long Beach, California; and • National Library of Slovenia.

Site Identification

3.44 The University has considered locations within the Oxford Ring Road and beyond, including sites at Kidlington, Bicester, Buckingham, Swindon, along with sites in Hertfordshire, and in the West Midlands. Land prices have not been found to be significantly lower at these distances, and even if a site could be secured, delivering stock from sites outside the Oxford Ring Road would suffer from serious traffic congestion that would cause major disruption and delay to service. An appreciable fall off in land values only occurs as far north as


Derbyshire, where delivery times from this distance would be too long for the scale of storage required.

3.45 The University’s Land Agent was asked to carry out a site search exercise on

behalf of the University’s Estates Directorate to identify potential suitable sites/buildings capable of conversion which could accommodate a large book storage facility. The exercise was carried out using the following criteria:

• Minimum space required in the order of 75,000 sq ft with an eaves height of

12 metres, or an equivalent area of 150,000 sq ft with an eaves height of 6 metres;

• Site level above the 100-year flood levels; • Site to be within cycling distance of Oxford.

3.46 Several local agents were contacted, and the University’s Land Agent visited a

number of sites, both within the Oxford ring road and immediately without it. Set out below in Table 3.2 are a list of potential sites that were considered, all of which were subsequently discarded.

Table 3.2 List of Potential Sites Considered

1 Littlemore Former BP Depot 3 acre site with potential

contamination issues. Site is irregular in shape, which would make construction of large building difficult. Planning permission exists at the site for mixed residential and work units, therefore unlikely to be available for proposed use. Book store would be out of scale will immediate adjoining properties.

2 Littlemore Open Site adjoining Science Park

12 acre site which is irregular in shape and close to a watercourse. First refusal already given to the Nuffield Hospital which, if taken up, would reduce the site to a size insufficient for the proposed book store.

3 Headington TA Centre Previous TA Headquarters, with typical WD buildings. Surrounded by residential properties, the scale of which would be dwarfed by the proposed book store. The site is probably too narrow at one end, further reducing its potential for a large building. Unlikely to be acceptable in planning terms


4 Garsington Road Former British Biotec site

3.5 acre site with existing permission for it to be redeveloped into small office and industrial freehold units. Site is restricted in size, and there were question marks regarding the extent of building which could be fitted onto it. Redevelopment would require purchase and demolition of existing extensive buildings.

5 Headington Quarry AC Neilson Site Approximately 3 acreas available at the back of the existing offices, but this would be too small and the proposed book store would be out of scale.

6 Cowley Unipart Site 1 million sq ft of high elevation storage used by Unipart. 16 acres available for further development, by Unipart agents not willing to consider sale or leasing arrangements as the require it for their own expansion.

7 Cowley BMW site Site owners unwilling to consider sale or lease of space as they require flexibility to cater for their own requirements

8 Cowley Road Arlington Business Park

Agents were unwilling to consider the possibility of locating the book store here, as their existing office development is said to be rated as the most successful in the area, and therefore too valuable as it is.

9 Headington Unicol / Luker Bros. Inspected, by no land available. Probably too close to small scale residential development to be acceptable in planning terms.

10 Kidlington Princes Juicing Plan Site considered large enough and likely to be available within next 12-24 months. Potential pollution issues and access to the site not good. The location of this site discounts it, access into the centre of Oxford would be difficult owing to congestion issues

3.47 The search carried out by the University Land Agent has revealed that there are

no currently available sites capable of housing a depository of the capacity required, and close enough to Oxford to ensure an effective and reliable book-


delivery service to the reading rooms in central Oxford, other than the proposed application site.

3.48 Even if an alternative site to Osney Mead were to be found within the Oxford

ring road, any site would in any case be subject to similar or more restrictive planning constraints on building height and mass to the available site at the Osney Mead Industrial Estate. The University has therefore concluded that Osney Mead offers the nearest and only available practicable location for the required depository.

Parameters for the Depository Design

3.49 Total Logistics carried out an analysis of existing OULS book storage and retrieval operations, using data from user requests, retrievals, and replacements in the central Bodleian system for 2003-2004 in order to project likely patterns and levels of demand over a twenty year period. It was calculated that, at peak, the depository would receive 4,611 requests for retrievals a day, with average weekday demand at approximately 2,700 requests a day. A key assumption behind this figure was that overall user demand would increase by 30% by 2026. It has been assumed that expected growth in OULS collections will not in itself result in increased demand.

3.50 A number of assumptions have been made which underpin the proposed storage

capacity requirements:

• The depository should release existing, expensive, commercial storage as soon as possible, by spring 2007;

• The New Bodleian refurbishment would require decanting of stock and service departments for a 3 year period – obtaining planning approval and feasibility studies are estimated will probably need at least 2 yrs, allowing a possible start in June 2007;

• The new Humanities and Area Studies Library, to be constructed at the Radcliffe Infirmary (RI) site, would need to be completed before stock, currently located in the New Bodleian, can be decanted to it, to facilitate the New Bodleian refurbishment;

• A number of library collections need to be reorganised (e.g. the RSL) and space made available for consolidating material.

3.51 In order to provide the required storage capacity within a building which respects

the “Carfax Height” limit, it has been determined that the new depository would need to be fitted out with high steel racking of no more that 15 m high, arranged in 13 aisles measuring 83 m long. This system would contain some 129,000 plastic storage bins or totes, each with a footprint of 800 mm x 700 mm and of one of four heights, and would have a nominal capacity of 7,936,000 volumes. In


3.52 addition to this tote store, the depository will contain a fourteenth aisle comprising a pallet based storage system for maps, equivalent in capacity to 500,000 nominal volumes

3.53 Using the base data for collection size, and demand for retrievals, provided by

OULS, Total Logistics have estimated that a crane cycle would take approximately 51 seconds per pick, based upon industry standard design parameters. This figure, along with assumed peak hour demand data, has been used to calculate the number of cranes required. It has been assumed that 13 cranes would be required, assuming an equal workload for each. Additionally, one crane would be needed, dedicated to maps. The number of cranes has been minimised by restricting operations during peak hours to picking only, and not replacing returned stock until quieter parts of the day.

3.54 British Standards 5454:2000 sets out guidance and recommendation for the

storage of library and archive material. Meeting this standard is desirable for all library stores, but is considered essential for the storage of Special Collections. In developing the design for the new depository, efforts have been made to ensure that it will meet with the recommendations contained within BS5454, except in the area of fire compartmentalisation. In this respect, the British Standard has been written with conventional floor height and volumes in mind, and requires compartment sizes that cannot be achieved in large-volume, high-bay ASRS warehouses. A revision of BS5454 is expected in 2006, and both the British Library and University of Oxford ASRS design teams have been in touch with the BSI to ensure that the revision to the British Standard reflects the application and use of ASRS systems for library storage in this country.

3.55 Key elements imposed by BS5454 relate to the building envelope and air handling

equipment, specified to protect the contents from damage from external causes and to maintain an acceptable internal environment.


4.0 THE PROPOSED SITE Location and Access 4.1 It is proposed that the new library depository building will be constructed on land

currently occupied by the existing SERS building on Osney Mead Industrial Estate, which is located to the west of Oxford’s City centre.

4.2 The proposed site for the new building forms part of land already owned by the

University at the far end of the Industrial Estate’s spine road, Osney Mead, including the SERS, Osney One and Axis Point units.

4.3 Vehicular access to the Industrial Estate is from the Botley Road to the north, via

Ferry Hinksey Road, which leads into Osney Mead. The adopted highway runs up to the existing turning area at the end of Osney Mead, to a point roughly parallel with the AXIS Point building.

4.4 The main pedestrian access to the application site is also via Osney Mead,

although there is gate which currently provides private access to the site for members of the University from the adjacent Thames tow path. In addition, there is public pedestrian access from the Thames tow path to the Industrial Estate, at a point to the north of the application site.

Existing Uses and Facilities

4.5 The application site incorporates land currently occupied by an existing office and warehouse building (referred to as the SERS building), the Osney One building (formerly known as Blackwell’s Scientific), and the AXIS Point building.

4.6 The Osney One building is the main OULS support building, and comprises

approximately 4,440 sq m of office space. The three storey L-shaped building until recently housed 45 OULS staff. Of these, 9 are permanently based in the building, and work in Staff Development and Training, Conservation and Collections Care, and Facilities Management. The remaining 36 are Central Administration staff, who are being temporarily accommodated in the building during the refurbishment of the Clarendon building in Broad Street, which should be completed by Spring 2006. In October 2005, 35 OULS Systems and Electronic Resources Service staff were relocated into the building (from the adjacent SERS building). OULS meetings and training sessions are held in the Osney One building. In the future, it is anticipated that OULS Technical Services staff may also relocate to the Osney One building.

4.7 The SERS building comprises two elements, a three storey office block to the

front, which is currently unoccupied, and a large warehouse block to the rear, which currently provides accommodation for OULS box-making. Some temporary book storage is also provided within the existing warehouse space, although the environmental conditions for such a use are far from ideal. Until


recently the SERS building accommodated 40 staff. Of these, there were 35 staff working in Systems and Electronic Resources, and 5 working in Conservation and Collection Care (box making).

4.8 The three-storey office block comprises approximately 1,264sq m floorspace.

The warehouse element comprises approximately 2,583sq m of floorspace. Combined, the SERS building has a footprint of approximately 3,121 sq m.

4.9 Photographs of the existing SERS building are included in the accompanying

Design Statement. 4.10 The AXIS Point building is also owned by the University and is currently leased

out (on a short lease) to a third party commercial tenant (CSA Packaging Ltd). Axis Point is a modern industrial/warehouse facility comprising approximately 3,648 sq m.

Parking, Transportation, and Servicing

4.11 At present there are approximately 70 car parking spaces serving the SERS building and warehouse site, distributed at the front, side and rear of the building. In practice only a small fraction of these spaces are ever used.

4.12 In addition, there are approximately 80 spaces which nominally serve the Osney

One building, although in practice this area is also used by the staff working in the SERS building, as this parking area is perceived to be more attractive and secure.

4.13 The Axis Point building is currently served by 26 marked car parking spaces.

These are dedicated to the tenant of this building. 4.14 At present some 50 staff hold permits to park cars in OULS parking spaces on the

site (covering staff who work in both the Osney One and the SERS buildings), although a proportion of these are only occasional car users.

4.15 There is a covered bike shed comprising 25 stands (capacity for 50 bicycles)

located between the Osney One and SERS buildings. OULS currently operates two pool bicycles, and it is estimated that there are 7-10 regular private bicycle users based at the site.

4.16 A seventeen-seater minibus currently runs a regular service between Osney One

and St. Giles / Broad Street. This involves 18 daily departures from Osney One on weekdays.

4.17 The OULS box-making operation currently receives on average 1 lorry delivery

of stock every three weeks to a month, and makes 2 weekly delivery runs to the city centre libraries, using a transit van. Systems and Electronic Resources receive 1-2 lorry deliveries (comprising van and non-articulated lorry) of IT equipment


each day, and makes 1 delivery of IT equipment to city centre libraries each day (by light van).

4.18 An OULS transit van makes 2 trips a week to the SERS building to retrieve and

replace library stock that is temporarily held in the SERS building warehouse. Boundaries and Adjacent Uses

4.19 The application site is bounded to the north east by an established landscape belt and the River Thames and its tow path beyond, to the south east by Bulstake Stream, and to the north west and south west by other industrial units on the Estate (currently Alden Press, Symm and Co., and Lung Cha Wong).

Designations

4.20 The whole of the Osney Mead Industrial Estate, including the current application site, is identified in the Local Plan as a “Key Employment Site” (policy EC2). The land is also identified on the Proposals Map as being “low lying land”, defined as areas close to or within the floodplain which are already extensively developed (policy NE8).

4.21 The site is located within the central area which is subject to the Council’s high

building policy (policy HE9), and falls within two of the view cones identified on the Local Plan Proposals Map (Raleigh Park and Boars Hill), although due to variations in topography, the actual application site is not visible from the tip of the Boars Hill View Cone.

4.22 The site does not fall within a Conservation Area and is not in the Green Belt.


5.0 THE PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT Description of the Proposed Development

5.1 The description of the proposed development, as specified on the planning application form is:

“demolition of existing SERS building. Erection of new library depository building. Remodelling of existing access and parking arrangements, and associated works”.

Site Layout and Masterplanning 5.2 The proposals involve the full demolition of the existing SERS building, including

both the office block and warehouse elements. Following site clearance, the new book depository will be constructed on the site of the existing SERS building and the areas formerly laid out as hardstanding to its rear and side.

5.3 The key elements of the development are as follows:

• Provision of a new book depository building with capacity to accommodate

existing book storage requirements and allowing for growth to 2026 (equivalent to 8.25 million volumes);

• Realignment of existing access road providing revised access arrangements

to the existing Osney One building and the new book depository;

• Remodelling of the existing car parking areas;

• landscaping proposals including the creation of new green space and additional tree and shrub planting to supplement and compliment existing;

• Provision of flood mitigation measures, including additional flood water

storage capacity to the rear of the existing Axis Point building; and

• Erection of new boundary fencing. 5.4 Further details of the site layout and masterplanning considerations are set out in

the Design Statement which accompanies the application. Building Design and Arrangement

5.5 The proposed book depository primarily comprises three distinct elements: • ASRS book storage area; • manual picking stations; and • ancillary accommodation.


5.6 The ASRS storage area is often referred to as a “black box” as it is a window-less volume containing a high-bay racking system and machine, comprising a series of cranes designed to store and retrieve storage totes from the racks.

5.7 The ASRS book storage area is highly serviced and will provide an extremely

controlled environment to sustain the recommended temperature, humidity and fire suppression for the safe storage of library material. The implementation of an ASRS system means that this part of the building will operate automatically, and no staff will be working in this area, except for maintenance access.

5.8 The ancillary block attached to the ASRS area comprises manual picking stations

at ground floor level, alongside conveyors which connect with the ASRS. There is also a dispatch area, where book totes will be manually loaded into the transit vans for dispatch to the various libraries in Central Oxford.

5.9 Auxiliary services will be accommodated at first floor level. These include

cleaning, digitisation and quarantine. 5.10 The second floor of the ancillary block will provide space for a reading room and

administration functions. 5.11 Further details relating to the arrangement and specification of the internal

building spaces are provided in the accompanying Design Statement. Footprint and Floorspace

5.12 The footprint of the proposed book depository building will be 7,479sq m, of which the significant majority is made up of the proposed book storage area (6,288sq m).

5.13 The floorspaces of the proposed building are set out below in table 5.1.

Table 5.1 Proposed Floorspaces Building Element Proposed Area

(gross external area) ASRS book storage unit

6,288sq m

Ground floor (picking stations and ancillary accommodation) 1,191sq m First floor ancillary accommodation 533sq m Second floor ancillary accommodation 533sq m Total 8,545sq m


Height and Treatment of Elevations 5.14 The height and bulk of the proposed depository building has been driven directly

by the need to provide sufficient space to accommodate the high-bay ASRS racking system required to provide the storage capacity needed by the University, along with a desire to respect the “Carfax height” limit referred to in the Local Plan’s tall buildings policy.

5.15 The full height of the new depository will be 18.2m above existing ground level.

The line of the roof parapet has been deliberately interrupted by raised feature screen rails, to create visual breaks along roof line thereby breaking up the visual mass of the proposed building. Behind the raised parapet, there will be a low pitch roof of 1-2 degrees with a membrane finish, which will not be visible from ground level.

5.16 The primary elevations of the proposed building will be constructed with colour

coated steel, smooth faced, composite wall cladding. At ground floor level along the south-east and south-west elevations, masonry walls are proposed for the ancillary block. Environmental Controls

5.17 Given the sensitive nature of the proposed contents of the building, there is a need to maintain high environmental standards for the preservation of material that will be stored in the depository, in accordance with BS5454.

5.18 The “black box” ASRS element of the building has been design to allow for a low-

oxygen, temperature controlled, environment. This forms part of a wider fire prevention and suppression strategy, and has the advantage of avoiding the need for sprinkler systems to be installed.

5.19 The environmental control systems will also be specified to maintain target levels

of temperature and Relative Humidity, to ensure that the Depository stock is held in ideal conditions for their long term presentation.

5.20 Given the level of services required to ensure optimal environmental conditions

are maintained within the building, a noise assessment has been carried out. This evaluated the existing level of environmental background noise, including the identification of existing noise sources, in order to assess the likely impact of plant noise from the proposed building on the surrounding area. A copy of the Environmental Noise Survey has been submitted to accompany the planning application.

5.21 Provision has been incorporated into the proposals for alternative power

generation in the event of a power failure. The services for the building have been designed to remain fully operational even if the land surrounding the building becomes waterlogged or flooded. An Uninterrupted Power Supply


(UPS) will allow key equipment to operate if the site becomes isolated from the mains, and backup power to allow full operation of the facility could be brought in if necessary. Transportation and Parking Arrangements

5.22 Vehicular access to the site will remain as present, via Osney Mead, through the remainder of the Industrial Estate. The access road will however be remodelled to provide a revised access layout to serve the Osney One building and new Depository.

5.23 The new access arrangements require the remodelling of the existing car parking

areas in front of the Osney One building. The remodelled car parking arrangements will serve both the needs of staff in Osney One and the new Depository. The total number of spaces to serve both buildings will be 46 spaces.

5.24 The number of marked parking spaces to serve the Axis Point building will be

slightly reduced (by 4 spaces), to 22. 5.25 The current minibus service provided by the University for OULS staff working at

the Osney Mead Estate will be continued. 5.26 The University would be willing to consider allowing general pedestrian access

through the site via the existing private gate which provides access directly from the Thames tow path, during the daytime. For issues of security, the University would wish to maintain its right to lock the existing pedestrian gate at night. Landscaping

5.27 Additional landscaping, in the form of new tree and shrub planting is proposed across the site, focusing particularly on the main access route between the new depository and existing Axis building. The proposed re-alignment of the main spine access road provides additional space in front of the new building which will be planted with semi-mature trees. An existing gap in the boundary tree screen to the south side of the Axis Point building will be filled with new semi-mature trees.

5.28 In addition a new area of green space will be created between the new

depository and the adjacent Alden Press site. It is intended to plant this area with native species and that it be managed in a way as to maximise wildlife benefit.

5.29 The landscape proposals are shown on drawing ref: 815-01, and the

accompanying Outline Specification for Landscape Works.


Flood Mitigation Measures 5.30 The proposed depository site is defined as “low lying”, and could therefore be

vulnerable to flooding. For this reason, Peter Brett Associates were commissioned to prepare a Flood Risk Assessment (FRA) and asked to advise OULS on any necessary flood mitigation measures which may be necessary.

5.31 A small part of the footprint of the proposed building falls within the current 1-in-

100 year flood ‘contour’ as defined by the Environment Agency, which marks the upper limit of the Flood Plain. The Environment Agency’s policy is to object to development on land below the existing 1:100 year flood level where appropriate flood mitigation and compensation is not proposed. By way of compensation for removing a small proportion of the site from the 1:100 year floodplain, the University intends to lower an area of adjacent land which currently lies above the 1:100 year level to provide compensatory volume for displaced floodwater (of an equivalent volume to the land which will be taken out of the 1:100 floodplain). This approach has been discussed and agreed with the Environment Agency as being acceptable. Included at Appendix 5 is a copy of a “Letter of Compliance” from the Environment Agency which confirms that the FRA has been carried out to their satisfaction.

5.32 In addition to the incorporation of general principles of flood resistant design and

construction, the proposed floor level of the new depository building will be at a minimum of 56.9m AOD (300mm above the Environment Agency’s 1 in a 100 year flood level in this area). This freeboard allows for hydrological and climate change uncertainty. In addition, the building will also incorporate a continuous flood defence wall (or bund) around its perimeter, set at 57.2m AOD (a minimum of 600mm above the 1 in a 100 year flood level).

5.33 It is also worth noting that the library materials held at the Depository will be

stored in totes within the proposed racking system. The lowest level of books in the system will be between 500 and 750mm above the proposed floor level, providing an additional measure of safety against potential damage of the Depository contents should egress of floodwater into the building during an extreme flood event.

5.34 By way of comparison, material stored in the basement of the New Bodleian

bookstack is currently at risk from water damage. Its two largest floors are below the water table, and water regularly seeps in through the failing bitumen tanking which is now over 60 years old.

Charging the Depository with Material

5.35 Some 60 per cent of the building’s capacity will be needed on completion of the building (currently envisaged for 2007), rising to 87 per cent as early as 2010, to allow for decanting of the New Bodleian collections. In order to populate the new Depository building with library stock, OULS will carry out a major


operation to transfer some 4.3 million existing volumes from its city centre libraries to the new book depository. This exercise is expected to take 2 years to complete, and will involve on average, 18 van deliveries each day (Mondays – Fridays).

5.36 Of these 4.3 million volumes, approximately 1.3 million are intended to be stored

in the Depository only temporarily, whilst refurbishment works take place at the New Bodleian Library (currently estimated to take place between 2007-2010). On completion of the refurbishment works, it is envisaged these 1.3 million volumes will be taken back to the New Bodleian. This return operation is estimated to take 20 weeks and is likely to involve 13 transit van collections each day from the Depository.

5.37 OULS needs a highly efficient storage and distribution system in order to

minimise ongoing operational costs. Rather than operate remote stores at both Nuneham Courtenay and Osney Mead, OULS proposes to vacate the current Nuneham facility and transfer its 1.3 million volumes to the proposed Osney Mead depository. Maintaining a single site at Osney Mead will streamline the logistics of operating remote storage and minimise the recurrent costs involved. The Nuneham Courtenay repository could be reallocated to meet storage needs elsewhere in the University, for example to the museums.

5.38 OULS also proposes to relocate some 500,000 lower-use volumes from the

Radcliffe Science Library and departmental science libraries within OULS to allow the concentration of more heavily used science collections within the RSL and the subsequent consolidation of science departmental libraries, of which there are currently sixteen.

5.39 Upon arrival at the Depository, all material will go through a receipt process,

involving checking the materials into the Depository, assessing cleaning needs, and sizing, before being allocated into an appropriately sized tote. Any book cleaning will be carried out during the charging process and the cleaning station will remain at the Depository to cater for any future added collections. As material is loaded into the totes a record is created for each item which will form the basis of information for the Warehouse Management System, and to update the Library Management System with the new location codes for the material. The tote will then be stored in the Automated Storage System and become available for order.

Proposed Use and Operation

5.40 As books are loaded into the Depository, OULS will begin to provide a regular delivery service to its City centre hub libraries similar to, but more regular than the one which currently serves the Nuneham Courtney book store. This will involve 2 transit vans, each making six delivery / collection visits to the Depository each weekday, operating between approximately 8.00am and 6.00pm.


Provisional routes for these vans are included within the Transportation Briefing Note included at Appendix 3.

5.41 It is intended that the new depository will use a similar request method to the

request system already in use in existing reading rooms. The present Automated Stack Request module of OLIS (the Library Management System) allows users to select, request, and track material remotely over the internet. The Depository’s Warehouse Management System (WMS) will interface with OLIS and its successors to continue to provide this facility. The transit slip barcodes of requested items will be scanned a key points during transit, and readers will be able to check the current state of their order online.

5.42 With the ASRS installed retrieval of the appropriate storage tote from the

automated store will begin within a matter of seconds. The selected tote will be transferred to the conveyor, from which the requested volume will be retrieved manually. This will then be manually stacked into an appropriate tote for transfer via an OULS van to the central library site from whence the request was made.

5.43 The current OULS delivery standard is to meet 80% of requests within three

hours. The proximity of the Osney Mead Estate, and choice of an ASRS system will ensure that this standard is maintained, and when compared with material requested from the existing store at Nuneham Courtenay, improved upon. Delivery of material from the Depository to the reading rooms will be via a number of regular pre-determined van journeys to the designated hub libraries, and will ensure that requested items are delivered normally within 100 minutes of an order being placed, during depository operating times.

5.44 Upon return, material will be manually replaced into the specially designed

storage totes, which will in turn be restacked by the robotic cranes into the main storage area.

5.45 The building will be serviced initially by approximately 16 staff, rising to 19 by

2026. This includes two van drivers who will be based at the Depository. OULS is currently considering whether to accommodate its Conservation Collection Care box making operation in the ancillary block of the proposed building. This equates to 5 members of staff, who are presently based in the warehouse to the rear of the SERS building, but who are due to vacate the building before the end of the year. Were they to be relocated into the new Depository building, this would bring the total number of staff to 21 initially, rising to 24 by 2026.


6.0 PLANNING HISTORY 6.1 The current application site includes land associated with three existing buildings

at the Osney Mead Estate: • The SERS building; • The Osney One building (formerly known and Blackwell’s Scientific); and • The Axis building (formerly occupied by the Really Good Card Company).

6.2 Set out below in Table 6.1 is a summary of the recent planning history associated

with each of these units.

Table 6.1 Planning History Units 13 and 14 (SERS and Osney One) Reference No. Description Decision 03/01616/FUL Single Story extension to form loading bay and goods

entrance. Zinc cladding to lift tower. Bris Soleil to southern elevation. Alterations at roof level including extraction chimneys, rooflight and replacement and extended metal roofing.

Approved October 2003

01/900 Underground ducting and access chambers associated with University telecoms and data network

Approved

00/01665/NF Erection of portakabin for temporary period.

Approved 20th December 2000

95/01446/NF Change of use from sports leisure centre to business and warehouse use Class B1/B8


94/00791/A Externally illuminated free standing entrance sign. Internally illuminated wall mounted name and logo


93/00074/NF Demolition of existing warehouse. Construction of new 3 storey office extension.


88/00072/NF Old Kemp Hall Bindery and Blackwell Scientific Publications Ltd Osney Mead – Revised vehicular and pedestrian access to site with four additional parking spaces, addition of escape stair and plant area to office buildings. New windows.

Approved 21st February 1988

81/00206/NF Provision of 11 additional car parking spaces

Approved 2nd June 1981

81/00883/NF Three storey extension to existing office premises.


76/00266/A_H Erection of warehouse together with offices and printing facilities

Approved 26th May 1976

74/01149/A_H Addition of one floor to existing two storey office block.

Approved 8th January 1975


69/22031/AA_H Erection of new warehouse loading dock, plant rooms

and associated office accommodation. Approved 9th December 1969

AXIS Building Reference No. Description Decision 02/02385/FUL Use of site for Class B1 Use as variation to condition of

previous permission. Formation of mezzanine areas plus external alterations including external flues, recladding and external staircases. Provision of 50 carparking spaces, plus space for further 19 spaces if required

Withdrawn 21st November 2003

99/0163/NR Details for siting, design, landscaping, external appearance and means of access reserved by outline permission 98/01445/NO

Approved 15th April 2000

98/01445/NO Outline application for the erection for a building to provide 4450 sq m commercial floor space/design studio/marketing, storage, distribution and offices.

Approved 7th May 1999

87/01026/NT Retention of open storage for stone in connection with rebuilding of Colleges and other buildings in Oxford. (renewal of application no. NT-/0918/85)

Temporary Approval granted 9 November 1987

85/00918/NT Retention of open storage for stone in connection with rebuilding of Colleges and other buildings in Oxford (renewal of application no. NT-/0629/83)

Temporary permission granted 15 November 1985

83/00629/NT Renewal of temporary consent for open storage in connection with the rebuilding of colleges in Oxford

Temporary permission granted 25 October 1983

81/00143/NT Renewal of temporary consent for open storage of stone in connection with the rebuilding of colleges in Oxford

Temporary permission granted on 21 July 1981

69/22031/A_H Erection of building to provide storage. Approved 14th October 1969

67/18557/A_H Erection of new warehouse, loading dock, plant room and office accommodation.

Approved 25th April1967


7.0 PLANNING POLICY CONTEXT 7.1 This section seeks to set out the planning policy context against which the current

proposals will need to be assessed. Development Plan Framework

7.2 The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act (2004) received Royal Assent in May last year and came into effect on 28 September 2004. Under the old system, the statutory Development Plan for Oxford comprised the Oxfordshire Structure Plan and Oxford Local Plan. Under the new system the statutory development plan will consist of the South East Plan (Regional Spatial Strategy or RSS) and the Development Plan Documents (DPDs) produced by the City Council.

7.3 Once adopted, the various DPDs will provide the new planning policy framework for Oxford. However until that time, it is the intention of the City Council to “save” existing Local Plan policies, as detailed in the Local Development Scheme 2005-2008.

7.4 The current Oxford Local Plan (2001-2016) was adopted on 11 November 2005.

The existing strategic and local planning policy framework therefore comprises:

• Oxfordshire Structure Plan 2001, adopted in August 1998; • Deposit Draft Oxfordshire Structure Plan 2016, September 2003; • Adopted Oxford Local Plan 2001-2016, November 2005; • Various publications produced by the City Council which provide

supplementary planning guidance. Local Plan Policy Considerations

7.5 Set out below is a summary of the Local Plan policies which are considered relevant to the consideration of the current planning application proposals. Education

7.6 The Local Plan recognises the University of Oxford’s standing as a world-renowned centre of academic excellence, as well as one of the largest employers in Oxford. The Local Plan anticipates the University being subject to a significant level of growth over the plan period. The Plan states that the City Council believes that this growth should be mainly concentrated in the central area, as this is the most sustainable location in transport terms, and also enables the different University colleges and departments to maintain close contact.

7.7 The Plan acknowledges that sites are likely to be needed to accommodate non-

core, and indicates that the City Council would consider sites allocated for B1 (office) use would be appropriate for these purposes in principle. The plan also states that


“whilst the University would want its core academic and research activities to be located in central Oxford, it acknowledges that the shortage of suitable sites will lead to many non core activities such as library storage and administration being located in areas away from the central core, if there is a need for further sites” (Local Plan paragraph 10.6.5).

7.8 Policy ED.7 – University of Oxford sets out the criteria against which proposals for

the further development of the University’s teaching/administration and research uses on sites already being used for University purposes. It indicates that permission will be granted for

“…the redevelopment of existing buildings where this would allow additional improved facilities to be provided and make more efficient use of land”.

7.9 The policy goes on to state that:

“permissions will be subject to the new development or alterations to existing buildings not adversely affecting the special interest of any listed buildings or their settings, buildings of local interest, or the character and appearance of a conservation area. The City Council where appropriate, will impose planning conditions or seek a planning obligation: a) to ensure that student numbers only increase commensurate with

additional purpose-built student accommodation; and b) for the resolution of traffic/parking problems including improvements for

pedestrians, cyclists and public transport, including park and ride.

Core Policies 7.10 All development proposals should be assessed against the Core Policies of the

Plan, which cover the following issues: • General Policies; • Location Policies; • Design Policies; • Environmental Opportunities; and • Environmental Impacts.

7.11 Policy CP1 – Development Proposals will be a key policy to consider. It indicates

that planning permission will only be granted for development which • shows a high standard of design, including landscape treatment that respects

the character and appearance of the area; • Uses materials of a quality appropriate to the nature of the development, the

site and its surroundings; and


• Is acceptable in respect of access, parking, highway safety, traffic generation, pedestrian and cycle movements including, where appropriate, links to adjoining land; and

• Provides buildings and spaces with suitable access arrangements and facilities for use by people with disabilities.

7.12 In terms of design policies it is considered that the following will be of relevance

to the consideration of the current planning application proposals: • Policy CP6 - Efficient Use of Land and Density; • Policy CP7 – Urban Design; • Policy CP8 – Designing development to relate to its context; • Policy CP9 – Creating Successful new places; • Policy CP11 – Landscape Design; • Policy CP12 – Designing Out Crime; and • Policy CP13 – Accessibility.

7.13 A number of the environmental policies will also be relevant. These will include:

• Policy CP15 – Energy Efficiency; • Policy CP18 – Natural Resource Impact Analysis; • Policy CP21 – Noise; and • Policy CP22 – Contaminated Land.

7.14 The requirements of Policy CP18 stipulate that planning permission will only be

granted for non-residential developments of 2,000 sq m or more, if through the NRIA, the proposal demonstrates careful attention to, and exploitation of:

a) opportunities for the reduction in energy use; b) efficiency in the use of energy; c) the generation of energy from renewable energy sources; d) the use of renewable resources in general; and e) the use of recycled or reclaimed materials in their construction.

7.15 The current proposals have been subject to a thorough Sustainability Appraisal,

the results of which are contained within the NRIA which accompanies the application.

7.16 Policy CP21 indicates that permission will not be granted for developments which

will cause unacceptable noise. For this reason a copy of the Environmental Noise Survey carried out for the site has been submitted to accompany the application.


7.17 Policy CP22 stipulates that planning permission will only be granted for development on land which is suspected to be contaminated where the City Council is satisfied that there will be no threat to the health of future users or occupiers of the site or neighbouring land and that there will be no adverse impact on the quality of local groundwater or surface water quality. Where necessary, the City Council will require prospective developers to submit Site Investigation details and any remedial measures that need to be carried out. In accordance with this, a copy of the Site Investigation Report carried out for the site has been submitted to accompany the planning application.

Economic Policies

7.18 As the site falls within an area identified as a Key Employment Site, consideration should be given to the policies in the economy chapter of the Local Plan. Policy EC2 Protection of Employment Sites specifically seeks to prevent the loss of key existing employment generating sites.

7.19 Policy EC3 - Modernising Existing Employment Sites is particularly relevant to the

current proposals, and sets out a number of criteria that should be used to assess developments. The criteria stated are:

a) the proposals secures or creates employment opportunities important to

Oxford’s economy and the local workforce; b) the potential employment density should not significantly exceed the existing

employment level unless it can be clearly demonstrated that the existing site does not make efficient and effective use of the land;

c) class B uses protected by policy EC2 should not be modernised for Sui-Generis uses;

d) the proposed buildings and structures are of a scale and character appropriate to the nature of the site and sympathetic to the surrounding environment;

e) landscape proposal are included as an integral part of the redevelopment scheme to help blend the development into the wider environment;

f) the use will not cause unacceptable environmental intrusion or nuisance; g) there is no material intensification of the use that would generate an

unacceptable increase in traffic; h) the overall number of car parking spaces should not be increased but either

maintained or reduced; and i) the development does not lead to pressure for residential development

additional to the provisions made in this Plan 7.20 Although the proposals are not for a warehouse per se, the proposed book

depository incorporates a significant amount on storage space, and as such the proposals could be compared to a warehouse type development, although the transport implications will be significantly different to a commercial warehouse and distribution development. Policy EC9 – Warehousing is therefore arguably relevant.


Historic Environment Policies

7.21 Policies HE9 – High Buildings Areas and HE10 View Cones of Oxford will also be relevant to the assessment of the proposals.

7.22 To assist with the appraisal of the proposals, enclosed with the application is a

Verified Views Report. This report provides before and after images to illustrate the visual impact of the current proposals when viewed from the tip of the view cones identified on the Local Plan proposals map, along with other high buildings within the City centre.

Transport Policies

7.23 Local Plan policy TR1 – Transport Assessment requires that a Transport Assessment be submitted for proposed developments likely to have significant transport implications. Appendix 1 of the Plan identifies thresholds to determine whether a TA is required. This specifies that a TA will generally be required if the development:

j) is likely to generate car traffic, particularly at peak time, in an already

congested area; k) is likely to introduce new access or traffic (any mode) onto a trunk road

or other dual carriageway; l) is likely to generate significant amounts of traffic in or near the city centre

Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) i.e. proposals in the Transport Central Area (TCA);

m) is for new or expanded school facilities; and n) would be refused on local traffic grounds but where proposed measures

set out to overcome any adverse impacts 7.24 The Plan stipulates that proposals over 500sqm or which may generate 100

vehicle movements or 5 freight movements per day will require at least a basic TA. Whilst the current application comprises a development of over 500sq m, its operation will not have significant transportation implications. Nonetheless, a Transport Briefing Note is included at Appendix 3, which sets out a summary of the key transportation implications of the proposed development.

7.25 Policy TR2 - Travel Plans of the Plan requires that Travel Plans should be

submitted for proposals likely to have significant transport implications. The current application proposals have been developed in the context of the policies and objectives set out in the University’s organisation-wide Staff Travel Plan, which was developed in consultation with the City Council. Policy TR2 should therefore be considered to have been complied with.

7.26 Local Plan policy TR3 – Car Parking Standards indicates that planning permission

will only be granted for development that provides an appropriate level of car


parking spaces no greater than the maximum standard specified in Appendix 3 to the Plan. It also indicates that where appropriate, the City Council will seek a planning obligation for contributions towards, or the provision of, improved accessibility to the site, proportionate to the scale of the development and potential trip generation.

7.27 Policy TR12 Private Non-residential parking may be relevant a consideration, which

indicates that the City Council will seek to reduce the number of private non-residential parking spaces, when they are not required for operational reasons.

7.28 In terms of pedestrian, cycle, and bus access to the site, the provisions of policies

TR4 – Pedestrian and Cycle Facilities, TR5 Pedestrian and Cycle Routes, and TR7 Bus Service and Bus Priority will be relevant to consider.

Natural Environment Policies

7.29 Policy NE6 – Oxford’s Watercourse relates to new waterside development, and requires that such developments complement and enhance the waterside setting and protect, or where appropriate create, wildlife habitats and public access along the watercourse. The supporting text to the policy also stipulates that new development proposed adjacent to a watercourse should provide a buffer zone (recommended to be 8m or more).

7.30 As the application site lies in an area identified as “low lying land” on Local the

Proposals Map, policy NE8 – Development on Low Lying Land is relevant. The policy indicates that planning permission will only be granted within such areas where the appropriate standard of flood defence is provided, and the development will not lead to an increased risk of flooding elsewhere, and incorporates where necessary, appropriate mitigation and compensation measures.

7.31 Policy NE9 – Flood Risk Assessment stipulates that a FRA should be submitted

alongside applications for development within undeveloped floodplain or low lying land. The current application is accompanied by a Flood Risk Assessment which has been prepared by Peter Brett Associates in consultation with the Environment Agency.

7.32 Policy NE10 – Sustainable Drainage indicates that planning permission will only be

granted for development that would not significantly increase surface water run-off through the use of sustainable drainage systems. The policy requires that developers demonstrate that they have made appropriate provision for surface water drainage and that this would effectively mitigate any potential adverse impact from surface water run-off.

7.33 As the application involves the clearing some of the existing trees within the

central part of the site and the implementation of a new landscape strategy, policy


NE15 - Loss of Trees and Hedgerows is also relevant. The policy indicates that permission will not be granted for proposals which involve the removal of trees where this would have a significant adverse impact on public amenity or ecological interest. The policy also indicates that permission will be granted subject to soft landscaping, including tree planting, being undertaken whenever appropriate, and stipulates the landscaping schemes should take account of local landscape character and should where appropriate include indigenous species. In this respect it will be relevant to consider the landscape proposals shown on the planning application drawings and accompanying Outline Specification for Landscape Works.


8.0 PLANNING APPRAISAL 8.1 In our view, the following policy considerations are relevant to the assessment of

the current planning application:

• The proposed use of the site for the construction of the new book depository building;

• The visual impact of the development in the context of the Council’s “tall buildings” and “View Cones” policies;

• How issues associated with potential flood risk have been dealt with; • Issues associated with good design, covered by the Core Policies in the

Local Plan, including sustainability considerations; • Access and parking issues; and • Landscape issues;

Proposed Use

8.2 In Section 3 of this Statement we have set out in detail, the strategic need for an off-site depository facility to provide the University with a suitable storage solution to house lower-use libraries stock, catering both for the immediate needs of OULS and providing additional storage capacity for the anticipated growth in library stock over the next 20 years (to 2026). Section 3 also sets out the rationale behind the proposed choice of developing a book storage facility using an Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS), which provides the highest density storage solution.

8.3 A site within the Oxford Ring Road was considered to be the only way of

delivering a solution for OULS which ensures an effective and reliable book delivery service to the reading rooms in central Oxford. Details of the thorough site search exercise that was conducted by the University’s Land Agent to identify a suitable site were set out in Section 3, which concluded that there were no other suitable sites currently available.

8.4 The proposed redevelopment of the SERS site to accommodate the new book

depository allows for the consolidation of OULS back of house activities at the Osney Mead Industrial Estate, to compliment the existing use of the Osney One building, which comprises the main OULS support building.

8.5 Policy ED7 of the adopted Local Plan endorses the need for additional

development to support the vitality of the University, and specifically cites the possibility of the need to provide additional non-core activities such as library storage and administration being located in an area away from the central core.

8.6 Whilst the current planning application proposals will represent comprehensive

redevelopment of the current SERS site, they do not represent a change of use of


the site in planning terms. Indeed, there is currently an element of book storage within the existing SERS warehouse building.

8.7 The proposed development of the book depository on the Osney Mead Industrial

Estate does not in our view conflict with policy EC2 of the Local Plan in respect of it being a Key Employment Site. The established use of the site falls within Use Class B (business, industrial and warehousing) and the current proposals do not introduce a competing use. The proposals are essential for securing the continuing vitality of the University and ensures that the jobs that will be created in association with the new depository are based in Oxford and support an organisation (the University) which is important to the local and regional economy.

8.8 The proposals are also considered to meet all the relevant criteria set out in

policy EC3 regarding the modernising of existing employment sites. Visual Impact

8.9 We have demonstrated in Sections 2 and 3 the pressing issues facing OULS and in particular the acute shortage of and need for additional suitable book storage capacity. Section 3 of the Statement in particular, set out the capacity requirements for the book store, which is intended to cater for immediate needs, temporary decanting space to allow other library refurbishment projects to progress, and space to cater from the anticipated growth in collections over the next twenty years. The proposed use of an ASRS system has ensured that the dimensions of the building have been minimised as far as possible, as ASRS presents the most dense solution for book storage and retrieval, and thereby minimises the bulk of the building needed to house it. Nevertheless, it is accepted that the proposed depository represents a large building within the context of Oxford. For this reason the Osney Mead Industrial Estate is considered an appropriate location, as it is in a low lying area, the site has significant existing tree screening along the boundaries of the site which will be augmented as part of the proposals, and the Estate is made up of many other large warehouse style units.

8.10 Given the location of the site within the Raleigh Park and Boars Hill view cones

and the high buildings area as defined on the Local Plan proposals map, particular emphasis has been placed on ensuring that the proposed height of the building does not exceed the “Carfax height” of 18.2m AOD, to ensure a minimal effect on the skyline of Oxford.

8.11 Considerable efforts have also been made to address the City’s guidelines in

respect of rooflines, which indicate a maximum ridge or parapet length of 25m without either a substantial vertical or horizontal break or interrupting feature. Additional consideration has been given to the careful use of building form, materials, and colour, to ensure that the visual impact of the building is minimised,


particularly when viewed from locations away from the Industrial Estate. Additional planting and landscaping to supplement the existing trees will also help to soften the visual effect of the new building.

8.12 The Verified Views Report which accompanies this application provides

illustrations of the “before” and “after” view from the relevant view cones and other landmark buildings in Oxford. It is our view that the visual impact of the proposed depository on the skyline of Oxford is acceptable. Flood Risk and Environmental Considerations

8.13 As indicated earlier, this application is accompanied by a Flood Risk Assessment, which has been prepared in consultation with the Environment Agency and in accordance with Local Plan policies NE8 and NE9. Whilst a small portion of the new building lies within the area currently defined as falling within the 1 in a 100 year flood plain as defined by the Environment Agency, appropriate steps have been taken to provide the necessary compensatory volume for displaced floodwater in the event of a flood, so as to ensure that the proposals do not increase the risk of flooding elsewhere.

8.14 Adequate flood mitigation measures have also been introduced into the building’s

design to minimise the potential risk of flood damage to the building. These measures exceed the recommended standards suggested by the Environment Agency, reflecting the seriousness with which OULS takes its responsibility to ensure the long term preservation of library materials and the cautious approach the University wishes to take in respect of flood risk. Additional measures have been introduced to protect the contents and internal environmental conditions of the book store in the event of an extreme flood. This approach and the detailed mitigation measures that are proposed have been agreed in advance with the Environment Agency. Attached as Appendix 5 is a copy of the Agency’s response to the University’s Flood Risk Assessment.

8.15 The proposed siting of the building respects the City Council’s and Environment

Agency’s guideline to retain an 8m buffer zone free from development between the edge of the watercourse and the new building. The alignment of the proposed building also allows for the creation of a new area of greenspace which will be planted in an environmentally sensitive manner so as to enhance the biodiversity of the area, in line with policy NE6 of the Plan.

Design Considerations

8.16 The text set out in Section 5 of this Statement, and in other supporting documents in our view adequately demonstrate how the current planning application proposals meet with the requirements set out in the relevant Core Policies of the Local Plan. Detailed justification for the proposed design of the scheme in the context of the criteria outlined in policy CP1, and CP6-CP13 are clearly articulated in the accompanying Design Statement.


8.17 The accompanying Natural Resource Impact Analysis provides an overview of

how sustainability issues have been addressed as part of the development of the design for the building, highlighting in particular the issues covered in policies CP15 and CP18. Access, Parking and Circulation

8.18 The proposals provide for the comprehensive redevelopment of the existing SERS site, along with a remodelling of the access and parking arrangements to serve both the new Depository building and existing Osney One building. The key transportation issues are set out in the Transportation Briefing Note included at Appendix 3.

8.19 The proposals are considered to be acceptable in transportation terms, and

indeed represent a small improvement in terms of traffic generation when compared to the existing use of the SERS building.

8.20 The remodelled car parking area represents a modest net loss of car parking

spaces at the site, which accords with the spirit of Local Plan policy TR11. The proposed level of spaces should nevertheless adequately cater for the number of existing (and predicted) OULS staff who have permits to park at the site. OULS intend to continue operating the minibus shuttle service between Osney Mead and the City centre and in this respect the proposals meet the requirements of TR3 and TR7.

8.21 The proposals include provision for a replacement cycle shelter, with the

equivalent number of bike stands to the existing level of provision (capacity for 50 bicycles), which is considered ample for the number of staff who may wish to cycle to the site, in line with policies TR4 and TR5.

8.22 Pedestrian access to the site remains unchanged.

Landscape Issues 8.23 The landscape proposals are illustrated on Macgregor Smith drawing reference

815-01. In our view the proposed landscape scheme meets the criteria of policy CP11 in that in relates to the function and character of the spaces and buildings on the site, the supplementary planting complements the existing trees and landscape setting of the site, and that the layout of the site and design of the new green space to the side of the proposed Depository provides the opportunity to enhance the ecological value of the site.

Summary

8.24 In summary there is a compelling case to support the current proposals, including the following:


• The University’s Libraries Service faces a range of issues and problems

with their existing estate. The University has in place a Libraries Estate Strategy to assist with the proposed reorganisation of the University’s library service, to provide an appropriate solution for the long term storage of library materials, and an ambitious buildings and refurbishment programme;

• There is an urgent need to provide an appropriate and permanent

solution for much needed additional book storage capacity. The existing repository at Nuneham Courtney is already full beyond its design capacity and cannot be expanded further. In any event the Nuneham Courtney does not represent an efficient library operation and cannot meet the strict environmental standards for the storage of archive material set by British Standard 5454 which the University is required to meet for a proportion of its collections;

• The provision of a suitable long term book depository facility is essential

to provide growth space for the University’s library collections over the next twenty years or so, and is needed to sustain the world class standing of University’s libraries system and in order to protect the University’s role as a national library of Legal Deposit material;

• The provision of capacity in the proposed depository to cater with the

future growth of library stock will also facilitate the implementation of other OULS estates projects; in particular the much needed refurbishment of the New Bodleian bookstack, and other OULS building consolidation and remodelling projects;

• The massing and height of the proposed building have been minimised

through the introduction of an Automated Stacking and Retrieval System. ASRS allows for the densest possible book storage option and hence minimises the structure required to house it,, represents a cost effective solution to providing significant capacity, and facilitates the careful regulation of internal environmental controls to ensure the long term preservation of the University’s library materials;

• The proposed redevelopment of the site at Osney Mead to provide a

dedicated book depository makes a better use of the available footprint of the site;

• The massing and bulk of the proposed building have been minimised as far

as possible, and respect the “Carfax height limit” and requirement to break up long rooflines set out in the Local Plan. The design of the


building avoids the need to position servicing equipment on top of the building, and instead the proposed metal screen on the front elevation about the ancillary accommodation block provides sufficient space for this as well as adding an element of design interest to the building;

• The proposals incorporate a new area of greenspace which will enhance

the biodiversity of the site;

• The proposals meet and accord with all other relevant design policies in the Local Plan, and have been the subject to a Natural Resource Impact Assessment;

• Issues relating to the potential risk of flooding at the site have been

adequately addressed to the satisfaction of the Environment Agency.


9.0 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 9.1 This Statement has provided an overview of the existing site, including

consideration of the site’s context and description of the existing buildings which currently occupy it.

9.2 The context of the proposed book depository project in relation to the wider

OULS strategic objectives is explained in Section 2, along with the rationale for the proposed development in Section 3. The inadequacies of the existing arrangements have also been set out, and the need for a new facility to provide additional library storage capacity clearly identified. The rationale emphasises the importance of providing an appropriate long term solution which can meet the high environmental standards required for the preservation of library materials to support the University’s world-class standing and retain its national Legal Deposit status.

9.3 An overview of the proposals is set out in Section 5, which includes references

where appropriate to other supporting documents which accompany the current planning application.

9.4 We have attempted to identify the key planning policy considerations in Section 7,

and in Section 8 we set out in broad terms, the planning case for allowing the proposed development.

9.5 In summary, the depository would:

• Provide approximately 126 linear km of decanting space into which some 4,300,000 volumes of existing holdings can be decanted; • Provide 99 linear km of growth space for future acquisitions, sufficient to

last approximately 19 years (at 5.2 km per year); • Enable the rationalisation and physical integration of libraries within

Oxford; • Provide good standards of fire safety and environmental conditions for its

contents; • Allow the implementation of the New Bodleian Library Development

Project; • Allow an improvement in storage conditions for stock remaining in other,

currently overcrowded library stacks;


• Provide the means for delivering the requirements of the Follett Report (2003); and

• Provide OULS with annual savings in operational costs attributable to

both staff efficiencies and space cost savings. 9.6 We believe that there is much to commend the current planning application

proposals and compelling reasons why planning permission should be granted. The proposals accord with all the necessary planning policy objectives set by the local development plan, and we would therefore urge the City Council to approve the proposed development.