Over 600 jobs on the way at Leicester-designed R&D facility

Leicester-based architect SGP has designed an £80m Oxfordshire R&D facility which could create over 600 skilled jobs, according to recently submitted plans.

Big box developer Tritax Symmetry will create the 56,000 sq m site for Siemens Healthineers – a world leader in magnetic resonance imaging – if Cherwell District Council approves the proposals.

670 construction jobs will reportedly be created if the facility gets the green light.

The 48-acre site, which will be used to produce superconducting magnets used in MRI systems, is situated north of the A41 at Symmetry Park.

SGP’s vision for the site has been specifically tailored to Siemens Healthineers’ production process and is designed to secure a minimum rating of BREEAM Excellent.

Jonathan Dawes, planning director at Tritax Symmetry, said: “The development of this new world-class facility at Symmetry Park, Oxford North will safeguard the significant knowledge, expertise and embedded supply chain benefits that have been established over the last 40 years within Oxfordshire.

“The proposals set out are accompanied by a thorough and robust assessment of all relevant technical matters, including highways and transportation, landscape and visual impacts, ecology, archaeology and heritage, and flood risk.”