UDP Travel Bursary 2026: Isaac Auger

This year, the School of the Built Environment offered students (studying Urban Design) the opportunity to apply for an Urban Design and Planning Travel Bursary to help cover travel costs for their Dissertation fieldwork. Three students were awarded the UDP Travel Bursary and here is the report on how the bursary was used by Isaac Auger... 

Translating Historic Urban Principles into Contemporary Housing: A Comparative Study of Spatial Structure and Urban Character in Saffron Walden.

Funding from the UDP Travel Bursary allowed me to undertake multiple fieldwork trips to Saffron Walden. These trips involved a spatial and morphological analysis of my three case study sites, photographic documentation, street and block analysis, a structured visual preference survey, and a number of semi structured interviews. My research focuses on a comparative analysis between the historic town centre and two contemporary residential developments, evaluating how urban principles have been translated into modern housing schemes.

Being awarded the UDP Travel Bursary has enabled me to complete necessary fieldwork and will help to ensure that my research project is of high academic quality. I am sincerely grateful for this support.

For more information about our courses in Urban Design, click below:

BA Sustainable Urban Design and Planning

MA/PGD Urban Design

UDP Travel Bursary 2026: Varvara Barbinova

This year, the School of the Built Environment offered students (studying Urban Design) the opportunity to apply for an Urban Design and Planning Travel Bursary to help cover travel costs for their Dissertation fieldwork. Three students were awarded the UDP Travel Bursary and here is the second report on how the bursary was used from Varvara Barbinova... 

The UDP Travel Bursary gave me the opportunity to undertake fieldwork in Margate, the case study for my undergraduate research project exploring how culture-led regeneration shapes the everyday inclusion of young adults and affects their sense of belonging. Margate is a brilliant example of neighbourhood regeneration driven by the establishment of the Turner Contemporary gallery, and visiting the town gave me valuable insights into the everyday life of local residents, their engagement with the cultural institution and their perceptions of the social and economic transformations that have taken place over the past 15 years.

I was able to visit Margate twice for my research. The first trip was primarily dedicated to conducting interviews, while the second focused on on-street observations of the town’s public spaces. I explored different parts of Margate, walking through the places people use most frequently and speaking to residents who were willing to share their experience. I also documented the physical characteristics of public spaces to evaluate how the regenerated areas function in practice.

The most impactful part of the experience was the importance of engaging directly with the community. Before the fieldwork, I faced a lot of rejections and ghosting while trying to recruit participants online. People were not engaging with a stranger on the internet, and I almost lost hope. However, once I arrived in Margate, I met so many wonderful people who were happy to learn about my research, share their experience, and become part of my project.

The bursary also strengthened my confidence as an independent researcher. Organising interviews in person, conducting field observations, meeting local residents and discussing my research pushed me outside of my comfort zone. But I am grateful that I had this opportunity, as I enjoyed the experience much more than if I had simply stayed behind my laptop.

I am extremely grateful that I was given this support that made this research possible.

For more information about our courses in Urban Design, click below:

BA Sustainable Urban Design and Planning

MA/PGD Urban Design

UDP Travel Bursary 2026: Rehma Saeed

This year, the School of the Built Environment offered students (studying Urban Design) the opportunity to apply for an Urban Design and Planning Travel Bursary to help cover travel costs for their Dissertation fieldwork. Three students were awarded the UDP Travel Bursary and here is the first report on how the bursary was used from Rehma Saeed... 

I applied for the UDP Travel Grant 2026 because I believed it would enhance my dissertation research on the importance of climate-adaptive urbanism in the UK, with a specific focus on London, by allowing for trips to London to conduct site visits and interviews in person rather than relying solely on secondary sources.

I was awarded £90 towards this travel. While the panel initially suggested some interviews could be conducted online, I discussed this with my supervisor, and we agreed that an in-person site visit and interview would provide stronger and more contextually grounded data.

My interview with Kristen Guida (Head of Climate and Community Resilience at GLA).

The site visit allowed me to observe conditions directly relevant to my research, including areas of London affected by overheating and surface-water flooding. This gave practical context to the risks discussed in policy documents and the London Climate Resilience Review and clarified how climate vulnerability is unevenly distributed across the city.

The interview component was central to the value of this trip. I met with the Head of Community and Climate Resilience at the Greater London Authority at her office, and she provided practitioner insight that would not have been accessible through documentary analysis alone. Visiting her office was valuable not only for the research itself but also as a student in this field; being shown around and seeing how things operate in practice was an experience I genuinely cherish.

Her perspective on the institutional and cultural barriers to climate adaptation in Britain has directly informed several arguments in my analysis chapters. Overall, the bursary enhanced my data collection process and was a genuinely valuable addition to my research, giving it a level of practical grounding that secondary sources alone could not have provided and I am grateful for this opportunity.

Dense tarmac and concrete surfaces with minimal tree canopy,
illustrating urban heat island (UHI) vulnerability
directly outside the interview site at Palestra House.

Riverside walkway near Blackfriars Bridge consisting of a tree-lined path
and vertical greening on adjacent buildings, contrasting with the
tarmac-dominated conditions on Blackfriars Road and illustrating
small-scale mitigation efforts within London’s blue-green infrastructure strategy.

For more information about our courses in Urban Design, click below:

BA Sustainable Urban Design and Planning

MA/PGD Urban Design

MSc in Historic Conservation – Lime Day 2026

An annual highlight of the Oxford Brookes MSc Historic Conservation is ‘Lime Day’, where students undertake an extended practical skills workshop with building crafts specialists Owlsworth. The use of lime – that is, of limestone-based mortars, plasters and renders – was at the heart of building construction until the 20th century, and its replacement by hard, impermeable modern cement has done untold harm to historic buildings. During the workshop students gain experience of mixing and applying traditional building limes, as well as of working with other historic materials such as stone and timber. These skills take years to perfect, of course; but even a day’s experience, guided by seasoned practitioners, yields a better appreciation of the craft than any lecture could achieve. It’s also good, messy fun. 

Traditional mortars and plasters are made using quicklime, a highly reactive compound produced by burning limestone in a kiln; here the quicklime is being slaked with water to produce a basic lime putty, to which aggregates or fibres can then be added.

An alternative technique involves hot mixing, where mortar is produced by directly combining quicklime with wet sand.

Students also look at timber construction, including the varieties of structural timber and the range of methods for converting a tree-trunk into a set of building components.

Walling panels in timber-framed buildings were formed of wattle and daub, comprising a thick layer of fibre-rich mud applied over a woven lattice of hazel strips. Here, the daub is being mixed by adding straw to wet clay to increase cohesiveness.

Applying the daub

Once it has dried, the daub must be weatherproofed with a thin layer of lime-based render

External render can also be applied in the form of harling, a wet mix of lime and gravel that is flung against the wall

Finally, students try their hand at stone carving – here by trying to replicate the complex moulding profiles of a window mullion

Thanks to David Garrard for the report and the photos. To find out more about the MSc Historic Conservation, look here.

FABRIC: the Urban Design End of Year Show 2022

After a break of 3 years due to Covid-19, the Urban Design End of Year Show stormed back with an amazing opening night on 27 May 2022. The theme for 2022 is FABRIC. 

A diverse range of work produced in modules from the BA Urban Design, Planning and Development, the MA Urban Design and the PhD programme in Urban Design is displayed in our Urban labs. The diversity of the work is knitted together by the creative work of the Art and Design students. The show will be open from Friday 27 May to Friday 1 July and is located on the second floor of the Abercrombie Building on our Headington campus. Come and take a look!

Click here for further details.

I went along a few days before it opened and also on the opening night to take some photos...

Don't forget - the Urban Design End of Year Show 2022 is on until 1 July 2022. See it on the second floor of the Abercrombie Building on the Headington Campus. 

Graduation 2020 and 2021 - it finally happened!

 After two years of missing, GRADUATION IS BACK! It was so good to see all the students, families, friends and staff who turned up to celebrate Graduation 2020 and 2021 in person on 18 May and 24 May 2022. Some photos and videos of the extra special day for undergraduate and postgraduate students who graduated from courses in Real Estate, Planning and Construction. Enjoy!

Graduation 2020 (held on 18 May 2022)...

And now for Graduation 2021, held on 24 May 2022...

For more information on any of our courses, take a look at the School of the Built Environment website:

Oxford Brookes School of the Built Environment