BSc Real Estate Management: the Oxford tour 2017

The new students on the BSc Real Estate Management and the BA Planning and Property Development were treated to a guided walking tour of Oxford (with Footprint Tours) during Freshers' Week. The tour focused on the history of Oxford and its buildings. Our tour guide was a History/English student at the University of Oxford, so the students had plenty of information stored in their heads for the Oxford Quiz. The rain stayed away until the end of the tour when the students went back up the hill for the Quiz and a BBQ at Oxford Brookes. Here is the tour in photos (by the Ed). Click on the red links for bits of history.

5 tour guides from Footprints (and Sally)

Broad Street...

...and Balliol College

Crossing over to...

the Museum of the History of Science...

...where some of the heads were wearing boaters.

The Bridge of Sighs, linking two sections of Hertford College over New College Lane
(although it's quicker to walk between the two buildings using the outside route)

New College, one of the oldest colleges of Oxford University

New College Lane...virtually all the buildings in Oxford turned this colour as a result of pollution during the late 19th and early 20th century, although many have now been cleaned up or refaced

Walking down Queen's Lane (home to Queen's College) and back onto
the High Street which hasn't changed much over the last 200 years

Magpie Lane which opens out onto...

...Merton Street. Home to Merton College which has the best food in Oxford University (thanks to a wealthy donor who thought the food was so bad he asked that his donation was spent on improving the catering).
The kitchen even has its own Facebook page.

Through the Meadow Gate and into...

Christchurch College, with its beautiful meadow and gardens

Blue Boar Street...

...home to The Bear, the oldest pub in Oxford (with an massive collection of ties)

The heart of Oxford University - the cobbled area surrounding the Radcliffe Camera.
A library funded by John Radcliffe, a doctor who apparently hated books.

So many tourists down here :)

All Souls College. A postgraduate college with a legendary entrance exam.

The Bodleian Library

The Clarendon Building

Looking past the heads to the Weston Library 

And back to Broad Street, where a cross marks the scene of the burning of the Oxford Martyrs.

MSc Real Estate 2017: Oxford and London

Each year, the new students on the MSc Real Estate take a walk around Oxford accompanied by the 'Oxford Property Market Questionnaire' - the purpose of which is to make them more familiar with the city centre and to equip them with the relevant information about the city that they need to construct a group presentation on the property market in Oxford.

This year, the blog photos reflect the different faces of our city centre from the station to the new development taking place on Queen Street, the main shopping area and the covered market. Click on the red links for more information and read to the end for the field trip to London.

Walking down from Oxford Station where there are plans for redevelopment

Crossing the new 'shared space' at Frideswide Square

Walking up towards the redevelopment of the Westgate shopping centre (opening at the end of October)

Bonn Square was redeveloped in 2010 as part of the regeneration of the west end of the city centre

The Glass Lantern at Westgate

Queen Street and the bus issue

Assessing the unit leased to Accessorize on Queen Street

Counting footfall in the Clarendon Centre

The corner of Magdalen Street and George Street featuring Debenhams

George Street itself...home to many restaurants

Gloucester Green. Quiet on a Tuesday, but home to a colourful market on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays...

...and also home to the bus station.

The bus station. Plans to relocate the bus station to create an integrated transport hub on
the site of the existing railway station are ongoing.

Broad Street. Home to a number of Oxford Colleges, Blackwells and the Museum of the History of Science

Turl Street

Market Street. Home to...

The Covered Market.

And back onto Cornmarket, the main shopping street in Oxford and also home to a number homeless people. Homelessness is a big issue in Oxford at the moment - the city has one of the highest number of rough sleepers outside London. Find out how you can help, including details of the Big Sleep Out 2017 at the Oxford Homeless Pathways website.

Looking down Cornmarket

On the roof of Portland House.

Next stop for the students was London on Wednesday 20 September. The students attended a presentation from Land Securities about the Victoria Estate and then took them onto the roof of Portland House, in Portland Place, with an amazing view across the whole of London and looking straight down into Buckingham Palace...who apparently had to be informed that there would be a group going up to the roof (of Portland House). The students then visited Land Securities' most recent development: Nova North.

Looking down on Buckingham Palace ;)

Inside Nova North (Nova SW1)

On the 20th floor of 2 Angel Court

The students moved onto the offices of Cushman & Wakefield in the City where the students listened to a series of presentations from recent graduates and were then taken up to the 20th floor of Angel Court.

For more information on the MSc Real Estate, take a look on MSc Real Estate tag on this blog, or look at our website for the full course listing.

Welcome to the MSc Real Estate 2016 - Induction Week

Welcome to the MSc Real Estate 2016 ft. Andressa Minogue (right) the Programme Administrator

Each year, the new students on the MSc Real Estate are taken on a walking tour of Oxford which is accompanied by the 'Oxford Property Market Questionnaire' - the purpose of which is to make the students more familiar with the centre of Oxford and also to equip the students with the relevant information about the city that they need to construct a group presentation on the property market in Oxford for the following week. There are a lot of changes going on in the centre of Oxford at the moment, more on these developments follow later in this blog. Click on the red links for more information and visit Oxford West End for a great summary.

As Nick mentioned in his introduction to the walking tour - much of the information about Oxford city centre can be found using Google, but Googling is no replacement for actually getting out there and looking. Observation is an important skill for future surveyors as is looking around and in particular, looking up.

Briefing and allocation of groups down at the railway station. Find out more about the masterplan for the station.

Outside Staples. Buying calculators (they were on offer apparently) and almost losing the questionnaire.

Queen Street and the redevelopment of the Westgate Shopping Centre...which has FINALLY started. But what effect will it have on the city centre? The last photo shows Bonn Square which was recently redesigned by Graeme Massie Architects. 

And onto Queen Street itself.

A 'Nick's eye view' of the students counting footfall inside the Clarendon Centre.

Cornmarket - one of the main shopping streets in Oxford. And empty shops.

The corner of George Street/Cornmarket and Magdalen Street. Showing the 'unusual' entrance to the Debenhams store.

George Street. And its cinema, restaurants, theatres and traffic.

10 minutes on George Street. Counting footfall.

Down at Gloucester Green and the bus station. Plans for the future development of this area have been considered over the years, but nothing has happened yet. Although the proposed relocation of the bus station as part of the Oxford Station Masterplan may change this...

And back to George Street for lunch.

On Friday 23 September, the students went on a field trip to London. The day was hosted by Cushman & Wakefield at their offices in Portman Square. Cushman & Wakefield are one of the sponsors of the MSc Real Estate at Oxford Brookes (the MSc Real Estate is sponsored by seven of the big players in the property industry: CBRE, Cluttons, Cushman & Wakefield/DTZ, GVA, Jones Lang LaSalle, Knight Frank and Savills) who support the MSc through the contribution of their expertise, time and resources - contributing to activities such as: hosting field trips, guest lectures, careers advice and sponsoring (supporting) events such as the MSc Sponsors' Day).

The students attended a number of presentations including: My Career Journey (given by Eleanor Reed who graduated from the BSc Real Estate Management at Oxford Brookes in 2011), Graduate Recruitment 2017 and Insights (given by Richard Pickering, Head of Insights and Research). This was followed by a tour of City Offices by members of the City Agency Team (and another alumni of Oxford Brookes).

The London field trip at St Pancras...photo by Ragini Venu

And on tour - photos by Ragini Venu

Like what you see? Find out more about the MSc Real Estate on our website here.
Or on the Hot Property blog.