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Plans to transform an NHS site into a major mental health and medical research campus in Headington have been submitted to Oxford City Council by Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust.

Digital illustration of the new site. A big building with several floors and lots of glass windows next to the current Warneford Hospital building. © Cityscape Digital for Eric Parry Architects

Warneford Park is a unique collaboration between the Trust, the University of Oxford and a benefactor that would see the creation of brand-new facilities that will benefit patients and support the advancement of medical research and mental health and brain science.

At the heart of the plans will be a new mental health hospital to replace the current Warneford Hospital – which is Grade II listed and thought to be the oldest inpatient unit still in use across the NHS. The new hospital will focus on providing modern inpatient facilities, with an emphasis on patient wellness and therapeutic spaces that connect with nature.    

The plans, which have been drawn up by a team led by architecture practice Eric Parry Architects, also include a major new facility for the world-leading medical research taking place at the University of Oxford, with additional space for biotech, pharmaceutical and start-up companies.

The project would also see the establishment of the first new University of Oxford post-graduate college in Headington focusing on medical sciences, bio-engineering and related disciplines. 

In combination, the proposals would provide a world-class research campus in Oxford that will aim to tackle some of the most important issues in brain and mental health, by discovering new forms of treatment and therapies.

The planning application follows extensive engagement with a range of stakeholders, which included two public consultation exercises. All interested parties will now have the opportunity, until 19 September, to read and comment on the plans (application references 25/01859/OUTFUL and 25/01859/OUTFUL) as part of the council’s statutory consultation, as well as track its progress.

The Warneford Park planning application is a hybrid application, which combines both outline and full planning applications within a single masterplan submission.

 

Read the full story on the Department of Psychiatry website.