Willmott Dixon has been appointed to deliver a student accommodation building that will be Passivhaus for the University of Oxford's St Peter's College.

The project to create two buildings that will each be four storeys will provide 54 bedrooms for the college’s students. As well as meeting the ultra-low carbon Passivhaus Low Energy Building (LEB) standard, the buildings include a podium garden with paved and planted areas, as well as enhancing the existing Canal House garden and links to the main college site.

To achieve Passivhaus LEB standard, the design will follow a ‘fabric first’ approach to achieve extremely low energy consumption and high occupant comfort, with a more relaxed target for space heating and airtightness, providing greater flexibility to the design of the building.

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The Master of the college, Professor Judith Buchanan said: "St Peter's is a beautiful college, but it is compact. Being able to offer more accommodation for our students matters crucially. Oxford’s private rental market is extremely expensive in ways that hit the poorest hardest.

"This eco-friendly new development enables us to extend our accommodation offer to undergraduates in ways that are economically so important for them, while making a transformative difference to the feel of our whole estate.""

Richard Poulter managing director for Willmott Dixon’s Central South region said: "Following the UN's report on climate change, and with COP26 looming, we are looking forward to working with St Peter’s College to deliver a low carbon student residential building that will be a template for future projects. Using our extensive Passivhaus expertise, it will be in keeping with the college's philosophy of 'honouring the past, building for the future', creating a wonderful environment for students to live, in one of the UK's most sustainable residences as they study at the prestigious college."