A TRANSFORMATION is quietly taking place across the Oxford skyline – not the dreaming spires, but the city's residential tower blocks.

Work on the £20m refurbishment project began in February this year and is now under way at all five sites, which are home to nearly 1,000 people in 290 flats.

Ten months down the line, residents and neighbours of Evenlode, Windrush, Plowman, Hockmore and Foresters Towers are now beginning to see visual changes on site.

Mike Rowley, Oxford City Council's board member for housing, said: "The repairs project is progressing well and I’m impressed by the external transformation of the towers in Cowley and Blackbird Leys, where external cladding has reached advanced stages."

At Evenlode in Blackbird Leys, the first site to begin the 52-week makeover, work on the flat interiors has now finished and renovations are concentrated outside.

Contractors Willmott Dixon are still on site finishing exterior wall insulation and rain screen cladding as part of efforts to secure the building's future for 30 years.

Just up the road at Windrush, new sprinkler and fire systems are being installed and electrical testing continues, with its second lift currently out of service.

Hockmore, which sits above Templars Square Shopping Centre in Cowley, is also starting to take shape with external insulation and cladding.

Mr Rowley added: "In the next few weeks, work will start on the last remaining tower, Plowman in Northway, and residents of all five of the city’s tower blocks can look forward to living in greatly improved, energy-efficient homes by the end of this year."

A site set-up is now finished at Foresters Tower in Wood Farm, with work due to begin in earnest later this month, and Willmott Dixon is due to set up at Plowman shortly.

So far 14 new jobs for site staff have been created as a result of the project and Willmott Dixon has taken part in job fairs and conducted school visits.