Oxford County Hall

DevComms was appointed by Reef Origin to lead community and stakeholder engagement in support of a full planning application for the redevelopment of Oxford County Hall, a Grade II* listed Victorian landmark in the heart of Oxford city centre.

The proposals seek to restore and sensitively repurpose the building as a distinctive four-star hotel, with publicly accessible food and beverage uses, improved public realm and access to the building's historic spaces. Given the site's prominent history, heritage setting and location adjacent to Oxford Castle, it was essential that all stakeholders were given a meaningful opportunity to view, comment and input to the emerging plans.

DevComms designed and delivered a comprehensive, multi-channel programme of engagement. Given the sensitivity of the site, a series of direct individual briefing sessions were held with key stakeholder groups, including heritage and conservation bodies, local history and civic groups, ward and cabinet members, county council representatives, community safety consultees and institutional neighbours.

Each session was tailored to the audience and provided an early opportunity to shape the proposals before submission. Alongside this targeted programme, DevComms managed a wider public consultation, including direct notification to residents and businesses, a public drop-in event held at County Hall itself, and a dedicated digital consultation platform.

All feedback was compiled and used to inform the continued refinement of the scheme.

The engagement programme generated a broadly positive response, with strong support for the principle of restoring and reusing County Hall, reopening parts of the building to the public and delivering an improved public realm.

Feedback directly informed refinements to the heritage approach, public access arrangements and design detail, and established constructive ongoing dialogue with key stakeholders ahead of the planning application submission.