Headington Quarry Community Gets Preview of Stansfeld Park

Last night members of the Headington Quarry community had their first opportunity to take a look around The Oxford Trust’s newly-opened 18-acre development at Stansfeld Park on Quarry Road.

Formally home to an outdoor education centre owned by Birmingham City Council, the site now hosts the Science Oxford Centre and Wood Centre for Innovation. The Science Oxford Centre, which will be formally opening in September 2019, is a bespoke science education centre for primary-aged children and their families. It includes an exploration zone with twenty specially-developed, hands-on exhibits where children can create their own experiments and make their own discoveries. There’s also a workshop space and 15-acre woodland for outdoor science-themed activities. Thanks to the Park’s location near to local biomedical research facilities at Old Road and the John Radcliffe Hospital, it’s hoped that The Wood Centre for Innovation will become home to a wide range of medical-related tech start-up businesses. Already resident are cardiovascular AI imaging company Ultromics and product design and development business Triteq.

Guests at the special community open evening had the chance to explore the Science Oxford Centre and have a go on some of the new exhibits – including a thermal imaging camera, marble mazes, a giant scarf shooter and electric circuit games. They took a tour of the beautiful woodland, complete with large ponds, an outdoor amphitheatre and wildlife hides, and heard more about the Trust’s conservation plans for the future. There was also an opportunity to look around the new innovation centre and hear more about the kind of companies that are based here and will be moving in.

Jude Eades, the Trust’s Director of Communications, says “Over sixty members of the local community came along – including many of our closest neighbours – and it was a proud moment to be able to show-off the redeveloped site to them. The feedback has been amazing and we’re looking forward to creating a real community hub for Headington over the next few years.”

Comments from guests included “This is absolutely fantastic. I’m beaming from ear to ear,”and “I can’t wait to bring my grandchildren here – we’re so lucky to have Science Oxford on our doorstep.”

The Science Oxford Centre is running a series of family open days over the summer months. Go to www.scienceoxford.com/centre for more information