BSc Real Estate: field trip to Bristol

The first-year BSc Real Estate field trip to Bristol took place on 18 November. Presentations on the property market in Bristol (from Savills and Cushman & Wakefield) were followed by a walking tour of the city’s office and retail cores. Thanks to Chris Berry for organising a great trip...

Presentations on the property market in Bristol (from Savills and Cushman & Wakefield)

Starting at Cabot Circus, the largest shopping centre in Bristol’s retail core and then walking through the Broadmead retail area. Broadmead is the central shopping street in Bristol extending east-west about half a mile away from Cabot Circus. Together with the streets around it, it forms the heart of the traditional retail area and is home to The Galleries.

The Galleries is (or was) a shopping centre which opened in 1991 and currently has planning permission for demolition and redevelopment into 450 homes, student accommodation, offices, restaurants, and shops.

Passing by St Peter’s Church (ruins) at the historic heart of the city, devastated during the Blitz, leaving only its outer walls and tower surviving, the tour moved onto Queen’s Square. 

Queen’s Square is one of Bristol’s most elegant public spaces and is a large Georgian garden square combining residential and commercial properties. Next up, the Harbourside office cluster at Canon’s Marsh - this waterfront area is the second largest office area of Bristol and home to about twenty office buildings.

And finally a visit to Temple Quay office core and residential district. Temple Quay is Bristol’s largest office district, developed on former railway sidings from the early 1990s to the present, with buildings dating from across that period. The final destination was BLOK,  1 Castle Park for a guided tour of the new A Grade office development hosted by Alice Short of Boultbee Brooks.

Vacant office space inside BLOK

The lounge area inside BLOK, adjacent to the cafe

The view from the roof garden at BLOK and finally, down to the basement to see the bike and scooter park and the gym...

Great field trip. To find out more about the BSc Real Estate, click here.

The Great Estates: field trip 2021

The first year students on the BSc Real Estate went on a 2-day field trip to learn more about the Great Estates of London on 18 and 19 November 2021.  

This field trip is part of the Integrative Project which provides a background to the subjects that are taken in the first year. The module addresses the discipline-based and transferable skills that students will need during their time at university and beyond. These skills are explored and developed through a series of activities which involve viewing real estate from a range of perspectives. 

And now for the story of the field trip in photos by Elaine who also measured the field trip in steps (30,000). Click on the red links for more information. 

At the King's Cross development

Talk by New London Architecture in front of the London Model

Elephants in London - why?

Covent Garden...

...redeveloped by CapCo

Carnaby Street - part of Shaftesbury plc

Guided tour of the Grosvenor Estate...

Sonic Bloom an art installation in Brown Hart Gardens

St Mark's church in Mayfair - now a spectacular...

...food hall and community space

Marylebone - part of the Howard de Walden Estate

Dinner at the Wembley International Hotel where the students stayed overnight...

...took part in a networking event and...

...had breakfast. Followed by a tour of the Wembley Park area

The Shadow Wall at Wembley Park

Amazon Fresh at Wembley Park

On the way home to Oxford Brookes

For more information about the BSc Real Estate take a look at our website and don't forget to follow us on Instagram @oxfordbrookesrealestate

The Great Estates of London 2019

The first year students on the BSc Real Estate Management went on a field trip to learn more about the Great Estates of London on Friday 8 March 2019. First stop was the recently renovated Regent Street Cinema for a series of talks on the Great Estates of London.

This field trip is part of the Integrative Project which provides a background to the subjects that are taken in the first year. The module addresses the discipline-based and transferable skills that students will need during their time at university and beyond. These skills are explored and developed through a series of activities which involve viewing real estate from a range of perspectives. After the field trip, the students work in teams to prepare a group presentation about the Great Estates of London (the one visited by the team on the field trip) and how they are managed to positively enhance their value.

Back to the field trip itself (click on the red links for more information). The students listened to two presentations:

...the first from Peter Murray (New London Architecture) on The Great Estates of London

...and the second from Nick Bailey (Argent) about the development of King's Cross

The students split into 6 groups for a walking tour and presentation about one of the following Great Estates:

The Grosvenor Estate
The Howard de Walden Estate
The Crown Estate
Covent Garden (CapCo)
Shaftesbury
The Pollen Estate

This year the photos feature the Crown Estate:

Presentation from Sarah Stanley and Ruth Kemp on The Crown Estate -
at their first dedicated co-working and flexible office space at One Heddon Street 

Walking around the back of Regent Street -
the surrounding streets have been greatly improved by The Crown Estate 

The refurbished Quadrant Arcade on Regent Street

The Crown Estate is working with Westminster City Council
to improve the quality of the streets and road markings

Looking towards Piccadilly Circus and the famous advertising boards 

Burlington Arcade

Jermyn Street - a quintessentially British experience

...and home to rather a lot of gentlemen's outfitters

Walking to St James Market past...

...the new building at 2 St James's Market

And into 1 St James's Market - the Head Office of Crown Estates...

...and the first office in Europe to achieve WELL Platinum Certification

The office features lots of plants and these amazing living moss lights

Back onto Regent Street with its distinctive curve

For more information on the BSc Real Estate Management click here.

BSc Real Estate Management: Bristol 2018

The colourful houses of Cliftonwood Crescent

At the end of October (2018), the third year students on the BSc Real Estate Management headed off to Bristol for the annual PPT (Professional Practice Test) residential visit. The visit provides the students with an opportunity to study a local property market (in a location away from the south-east) and to apply all aspects of the real estate management subject disciplines to locally based case study problem solving.

And so to Bristol...Bristol is a city straddling the River Avon in the southwest of England with a prosperous maritime history. Amongst (many) other things, Bristol is home to the famous Clifton Suspension Bridge and (was home) to its equally famous engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It is also home to a great harbourside and some rather famous street art (and Banksy). Take a look a the red links to find out a bit more. Thanks to Mike Patrick and Steve Priddis for the photos.

The presentation from Jones Lang LaSalle

The students (and staff) were based at the Futures Inn in Bristol, where they were introduced to the field trip and their group scenarios. They were also given a series of presentations about the local area which included: an overview of investment in Bristol, the office market in Bristol, the retail market in Bristol and transport in Bristol. At the end of the first day students and staff went out for a group meal at ZaZa Bazaar. And then...

...students and staff went on a self-guided tour of the commercial areas of Bristol.

And a boat tour of Bristol Waterfront

On the last day and before returning to Oxford, the students attended the field trip debrief and were given further details about the field trip assignment and vivas. The final part of the PPT experience was held back at Oxford Brookes and consisted of the field trip vivas and submission of the final report.

For more information about the BSc Real Estate Management, take a look at the website or the blog posts concerning undergraduate students:

BSc Real Estate Management - course details
UG students at work - on the blog

The Great Estates of London 2018

The first year students on the BSc Real Estate Management went on a field trip to learn more about the Great Estates of London on Friday 16 March 2018. First stop was the recently renovated Regent Street Cinema for a series of talks on the Great Estates of London.

Settling into the Regent Street Cinema

This field trip is part of the Integrative Project which provides a background to the subjects that are taken in the first year. The module addresses the discipline-based and transferable skills that students will need during their time at university and beyond. These skills are explored and developed through a series of activities which involve viewing real estate from a range of perspectives. After the field trip, the students work in teams to prepare a group presentation about the Great Estates of London (the one visited by the team on the field trip) and how they are managed to positively enhance their value.

Back to the field trip itself (click on the red links for more information)....the students listened to a series of presentations and videos at the Regent Street Cinema before splitting into 6 groups for a walking tour of one of the following Great Estates:

The Grosvenor Estate
The Howard de Walden Estate
The Crown Estate
The Portman Estate
Shaftesbury
The Pollen Estate

And now for the photos (by Rachel Dixon and Youngha Cho)...

Paul Jenkins (Associate Lecturer and Asset Manager at Boultbee Brooks) and Nick Bailey (Project Manager at Argent) gave presentations on the Great Estates of London and the students watched this video by New London Architecture.  

Starting off the tour of the Howard de Walden Estate with a presentation...

...before heading out into Marylebone

Outside...

...and inside an empty building converted for office use.

On the way to Harley Street

Marylebone High Street

The Cramer Street Car Park - home to Marylebone Farmers' Market

Walking back towards Marylebone High Street

The redevelopment of Marylebone High Street features two 'anchor' stores - one of which is Waitrose...

...and a host of independent retailers, creating a unique and interesting retail experience.

Finishing up with a visit to a very traditional (and small) London pub: the Golden Eagle

The Shaftesbury group - the estate includes some of the most iconic destinations in London:
Soho, Chinatown, Carnaby, Fitzrovia and Covent Garden. 

Liberty of London

Carnaby Street

Find out more about the BSc Real Estate Management on our website:

BSc Real Estate Management