Students are now enjoying the new £40m Jesus College building in Cornmarket which features accommodation, a digital hub, a health centre and retail units.
The former Northgate House at the junction with Market Street in Oxford has been completed after a three-year construction project led by BAM.
The Oxford University students are now living in rooms in the stunning new structure renamed the Cheng Yu Tung Building after its principal sponsor.
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The design, construction and operation means it will be one of the city centre’s first fully zero carbon buildings.
Outstanding features include accommodation built around a 'rooftop' Fourth Quad, which offers stunning views of the city, and a digital hub in the basement, offering the latest digital technologies.
Centred on a sweeping curved staircase rising three storeys high, the hub will become 'a fulcrum for academic endeavour and more' according to the college.
Many years ago the space was once occupied by a Cornmarket Co-op.
The building is also home to a new gym, multi-faith room and cafe, which looks down onto Market Street and Cornmarket.
While the building has been completed, details have not yet been finalised regarding which high street names will occupy the retail units.
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A spokeswoman for the college said: "The college’s commercial lettings agency, KLM, is in ongoing talks with a number of potential retail tenants and welcomes enquiries from interested retail businesses."
College principal Prof Sir Nigel Shadbolt welcomed the completion of the building project.
He said: "We are delighted that the Cheng Yu Tung Building is now fully open; the culmination of an ambitious five-year project to create exciting new opportunities to position Jesus as a leading college for learning and research at Oxford.
"This exceptional building not only provides us with more space in which to carry out our academic research and teaching; it also provides Oxford with a dynamic new venue for activities such as exhibitions, performances, talks and conferencing, and a new integrated NHS health centre.
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"In the near future, it will feature new retail units which will enhance the historic shopping district around Cornmarket.
"We want to make the college, including our research and our people, more open and accessible to the general public and local communities, and look forward to hosting many public events in the months and years ahead in our new Digital Hub."
A formal ribbon cutting event is expected on October 22 for a private event, with the first public event, a talk about digital platforms, in the digital hub on October 25.
Next month there will be a special computer gaming night entitled A History of Gaming’, where visitors will be able to learn how gaming has driven wider technological advances, and get the opportunity to play on lovingly restored consoles from the 1970s through to the present day.
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This story was written by Andy Ffrench, he joined the team more than 20 years ago and now covers community news across Oxfordshire.
Get in touch with him by emailing: Andy.ffrench@newsquest.co.uk
Follow him on Twitter @OxMailAndyF
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