Housing association Peabody (formerly Catalyst) and development partner Oxford City Council have planning permission to build 294 homes across two sites to help tackle Oxford’s housing shortage.
A new district centre will be built, with 210 homes, and a further 84 houses will be built at Knights Road.
Main contractor Hill has begun preparation work on site, including putting up hoardings at the existing Community Centre and Evenlode Tower parking and garages. Demolition will begin shortly, with the old community centre expected to be taken down at the end of the month.
Peabody managing director (development) Simon Barry said: “We’ve come a long way since we first engaged with the community in 2019 about our proposals for Blackbird Leys, so I’m delighted to now see work beginning on site. This marks a critical step forward in our programme to rejuvenate this area with much-needed affordable homes and purpose-built high-quality public spaces.
“The next stage is to finalise our plans for the community centre, and we’ve had brilliant conversations with local residents and organisations over the past few months – that’s thanks to the fantastic energy of this community. We’re looking forward to building on this as we move through the final design stage.”
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