Begbroke Information

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Information for Staff Based at Begbroke

  • Begbroke Security:  During Office Hours 08:00 - 16:30 please contact Shaun Boyce on 01865 (2)83724 or Alistair Cory on 01865 (2)83784.
  • Begbroke Security:  Outside Office Hours the building is secured and patrolled by University Security Services. For Emergencies contact 01865 (2)89999 for the Control Room/Duty Manager contact 01865 (2)72944.
  • The site entrance barrier is open 07:00 - 19:00 Monday - Friday.  Outside of these hours your access fob will open the site barrier for you to enter/exit the site.  The barrier is closed over the Christmas and Easter holiday periods.
  • Main site reception is open from 08:30 - 17:00 Monday - Friday.  Telephone: 01865 (2)83700.  Email: reception@begbroke.ox.ac.uk
  • All visitors are asked to sign in at main site reception.  If possible please inform reception of your visitors prior to their arrival. Reception will contact you once your visitor has arrived.
  • Anyone visiting Begbroke regularly should join the Begbroke Science Park and Minibus Announcements Maillist. This service provides information such as general site information, minibus, research and university seminar and event information.
  • Any member of Materials visiting Begbroke Science Park regularly should also subscribe to the departmental begbroke-info maillist by sending an empty message to begbroke-info-subscribe@maillist.ox.ac.uk 
  • The Restaurant is open for lunch from 12.00 - 2pm.  The lunch menu changes daily; it offers fresh soup, 2 choices of hot meal, a salad bar and freshly made sandwiches/baguettes, as well as puddings, chocolate, snacks and cold drinks. Breakfast items are available 08:30 - 10:00 Monday to Thursday (on request) and every Friday a full cooked self-service breakfast is available. There is a hospitality brochure available from the restaurant on request. 
  • The Centre for Innovation and Enterprise has a coffee shop open from 08:00 - 16:00 with a barista service where you can purchase a range of hot drinks, pastries, baguettes, paninis, confectionery and snacks.
  • A minibus for university staff and students operates regularly between Begbroke and Oxford.  A minibus pass is required to use this service and these are issued by Begbroke Reception.  Please email Begbroke reception reception@begbroke.ox.ac.uk with the purpose of your visit.  pdf Begbroke Minibus Timetable.
  • Students requiring a minibus pass and/or building access (key fob) should email samantha.pearce@materials.ox.ac.uk.
  • Approved users can book department equipment such as microscopes via the on-line booking systems.
  • The Gabriella Chapman room belongs to the Department of Materials and is based in the Hirsch Building.  You can book the Gabriella Chapman room using the departmental online room booking system.
  • The Begbroke Directorate provide full conference and meeting room facilities which can be booked via Begbroke reception on (2)83700 or emailing enquiries@begbroke.ox.ac.uk.  
  • IT support is currently provided from the central site on an ad-hoc basis. Please contact IT staff by phone or email to report faults or request support. IT staff cannot respond if you do not tell us there is a problem.
  • Requisitions for goods should be submitted using the financial guidelines and form provided on the internal section of the department website. Goods can be delivered either to central stores or to reception at Begbroke which is run by the Begbroke reception and facilities team on 283700.
  • Chemicals must be ordered and delivered to Begbroke since they cannot be transported from central stores to Begbroke.
  • Items from central stores must be collected in person.
  • Management of the Begbroke site should be addressed to Begbroke Reception.

About the Begbroke Site

Begbroke Aerial Photo

In 1999 the University purchased a new 200 acre site, 5 miles north of the city centre, close to the villages of Begbroke, Yarnton and Kidlington. Most of the site is arable farmland, let to a local farmer. However, the central 10 acres of the site contain just under 8,000 sq m of laboratories and offices, which were previously used as the corporate R&D centre of a multinational materials and manufacturing company. The University is converting this core site into a science park - Oxford University Begbroke Science Park (OUBSP). The objective is to provide a unique environment for industry-linked academic research into materials and fabrication, immediately adjacent to related spin-out materials-based manufacturing companies.

The University's initial investment together with associated JIF and industrial funding amounted to a £23m development. The overall scientific theme is to understand the manufacture of tailor-made and atomically engineered materials using sophisticated atomistic modelling, atomic resolution microanalysis and novel sensor techniques, for applications in the automotive, aerospace, power, biomedical and IT industries. The new site will have the most advanced and extensive characterisation facilities available anywhere in the world, and will have specialist simulation equipment for atomic level monitoring and control of the manufacture of a wide range of materials and products. Projects include recycled aluminium alloys for pollution-free cars, biosensors for medical, environmental and food monitoring, superconducting components for low loss energy supply and efficient satellite telecommunications, organic and ceramic materials for high brightness displays in videophones and flat TV screens, improved hip and other joint replacement prostheses, high-integrity long shelf life plastic packaging, and quantum dot structures for the next generation computers, lasers and other optoelectronic devices.

Half the site is academic research facilities and the other half is high tech science spin-out companies. Currently six university departments have research laboratories at Begbroke. Intellectual advances and scientific understanding generated in the research centres can be implemented via initial business incubation, start-up and second phase operations on a single site. The Innovation Centre, owned and managed by Oxford University (Begbroke Directorate), can be contacted at 01865 854800.

History of Begbroke