Our home
“The building gives the School permanence. The University of Oxford has persisted for hundreds of years, through wars, and still survived. Having a building says ‘we are part of a university that has seen it all and kept going’. It’s that resilience we wanted to carry forward.”
The history of the site
3000 BC to 1700 AD: People were living on the site where the Blavatnik School now stands in Neolithic times and during the Bronze Age; there was also activity during the Anglo-Saxon period.
1714: Dr John Radcliffe, a physician, leaves a large legacy in his will to the University of Oxford (his alma mater).
1770: The Radcliffe Infirmary, funded from Radcliffe’s legacy, opens as Oxford’s main hospital. Its site is where the Blavatnik School will later stand.
1941: Penicillin is tested on humans for the first time at the hospital by Oxford University scientists, one of a number of pioneering medical moments in the hospital’s history.
2003: By now the Oxford hospitals’ main bases are elsewhere, and the Radcliffe Infirmary site, long associated with research, is sold by the NHS back to the University. The University develops a masterplan for the site, which will be called the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter.
2010: When the Blavatnik School of Government launches, the University has allocated space for its building on the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter.
Design and construction
2010: The newly launched School operates out of buildings on historic Merton Street, on loan from University College, and starts looking for architects.
June 2011: It emerges that there is an 18th-century hospital burial site on the grounds where the Blavatnik School is due to be built, which it turns out has never been deconsecrated. The University must petition the Church of England for the exhumation of the human remains and their reinternment on consecrated land elsewhere.
The skeletons form the largest collection of individuals to have been excavated from an 18th- to 19th-century hospital burial ground in the country. They are studied by a dedicated team of archaeologists, providing insights into the lives, medical treatments and deaths of people in the past.
September 2011: Herzog & de Meuron are announced as architects for the new building after an exhaustive international competition.
‘They were amazing, just brilliant. They approached the building in an entirely different way. [When they were competing for the commission] we spent the morning moving polystyrene blocks around into interesting shapes.’
In designing the building, Herzog & de Meuron take inspiration from iconic Oxford architecture, including the curves of the Radcliffe Camera and Sheldonian.
‘It is radically different from the urban and intellectual context of its Oxford setting, but with subtle references that ground it. The more you stand and stare, the more these references become clear and add a richness that elevates this building beyond a bold iconic statement.’
May 2013: Planning is granted for building. Through the process of seeking planning permission, Calum Miller, the School’s Chief Operating Officer, has engaged closely with local concerns about the building’s planned size and suitability. Many previously sceptical local residents are now excited about the School’s purpose.
‘If we couldn’t live out the values of transparency and engagement with those on our doorstep, we shouldn’t be preaching them.’
September 2013: Groundbreaking. Work begins to construct the School building.
‘It sounds a bit childish, but I used to go and watch the diggers; it was so exciting because we’d actually started the project.’
26 January 2015: The building reaches its highest point, celebrated in a ‘topping out’ ceremony.
November 2015: Completion.
After years of architect-finding, digger-watching, and material-choosing, the new building becomes our home.
It goes on to win a number of awards, including the RIBA National Award 2016, and is shortlisted for the Stirling Prize, Britain’s foremost architectural award.
“Quite simply breathtaking”
“A cathedral of learning”
“A space where people naturally come together and engage both physically and emotionally”
“A truly inspirational piece of design and one so fitting for its purpose”
“One of those rare moments in architecture when the spirit soars.”
May 2016: The Duke of Cambridge – now the Prince of Wales – officially opens the building.
His Royal Highness has maintained a great interest in the School’s work and in 2022 joined our International Advisory Board.
Today
Today the building is a hive of activity providing teaching spaces for students, public event space and a café open to the local community.
Our home
Having a building says ‘we are part of a university that has seen it all and kept going’. It’s that resilience we wanted to carry forward.
10 years of growth
We welcomed our first students in 2012. Ten years on, we look back at some key moments in our growth since then.
