WHO WE ARE
Makespace Oxfordshire is a social enterprise dedicated to transforming the land and property system through practical place-rooted prototypes.
We unlock empty and underused spaces with and for communities, transforming them into welcoming, affordable and accessible places for work, culture and community. We build the capacity of grassroots groups and organisations that are making the change we need to see in the world. At the same time, we influence policy and regeneration practices to ensure communities benefit directly, creating more just and sustainable systems.
We're working across three horizons: unlocking spaces today, building towards community ownership for tomorrow, and transforming the property system for generations to come.
OUR VISION
An Oxfordshire that’s a healthy, thriving, just space for all for generations to come.
We are guided by our North Star, spatial justice: A future where everyone has access to the safe, secure and beautiful spaces they need to live happy, healthy, creative and connected lives; where communities develop power and belonging in their places; and where our property system helps us live well within planetary boundaries.
OUR MISSIONS
UNLOCK
We unlock empty or underused land and buildings with communities, working towards a future where they're owned and managed by local citizens.
BUILD CAPACITY
We support residents and local communities to have access to the skills, tools and resources they need to resist, develop, grow and thrive.
INFLUENCE
We aim to affect change across the wider system, challenging the conditions that cause vacancy and displacement, amplifying voices and co-creating stewardship that prioritise community benefit.
TRANSFORM
Through collective imagination, research and innovation, we aim to transform places and systems, rewriting the rules so that communities can shape a more equitable future, bringing spatial justice to life.
OUR PRINCIPLES
Our work is grounded in values drawn from practice, learning and community. These principles guide everything we do.
Start where we can
Place based and rooted in community
Democratic and transparent
Solidarity over charity
Share our learnings
Embrace complexity
Regenerative by design
Led by design and creativity
Cultivating cultures of care
Transformational
OUR STORY
Makespace Oxford began in 2018 with a simple question: What if empty buildings could be brought back to life by and for the communities that need them?
Founded by a coalition of local groups and social enterprises being priced out of one of the UK’s least affordable and most unequal cities, our first hub opened at Aristotle Lane after sitting empty for four years. Since then, we’ve reanimated more than 30 buildings across Oxfordshire and supported over 250 organisations into affordable space.
This work, often called ‘meanwhile use’, has shown what’s possible. From cafés and artist studios to hubs for climate action and grassroots organising, our spaces have become foundations for care, creativity and community-led change.
But short-term fixes are not enough. In 2025, we refounded as Makespace Oxfordshire with a deeper commitment to spatial justice, so that land and property systems place people and planet over profit.
This is our next chapter, and an open invitation to all those working to bring about a new kind of land and property system to help shape it with us.
Learn more about our vision for change