Awards 2023

Sustainability and social housing were at the heart of the success of the OPT Awards 2023, now in their 46th year.  Nine plaques were awarded across town and gown to projects which make an exemplary contribution to the City’s character, streets, and green spaces.

We were delighted to welcome Harriet Waters, Head of Environmental Sustainability at the University of Oxford, to present this year’s Green Award to the brilliant Low Carbon Bungalows in Marston and Wood Farm, delivered by OX Place. This wasn’t OX Place’s only plaque, with The Curve in Cowley being recognised in the New Buildings category. Another New Buildings winner was Bullingdon Community Centre, which provides fantastic high-quality facilities for the communities of Wood Farm, Lye Valley and beyond.

Nine plaques and fifteen certificates were awarded to a diverse range of projects which celebrate all walks of life. In the Building Conservation category, plaques went to Christ Church for the exquisite restoration of the Old Library’s historic painted ceiling and pulpit, St John’s College for the sensitive refurbishment of the Canterbury Quadrangle, Old & Laudian Libraries and to Oxford University Museum of Natural History for the refurbishment of the Westwood Room, which, much to OPT’s delight, is now open for the public to view the vivid Pre-Raphaelite interior.

In Landscape & Public Realm, this year’s plaque winner was Marston Community Gardening, Court Place Farm Allotments, an exemplary community project.  Small Projects are always a special part of the Awards, with two well-deserved plaques presented for the colourful internal alterations and decorations at Corpus Christi RC Church in Headington, and to the decade-long project to conserve and laser clean the Monuments & Memorials in All Souls College chapel.