Millionaire businessman Wafic Said is splashing out to give Oxfordshire's landscape a new look.

The founder of the Said Business School in Oxford is spending millions of pounds ripping down his country mansion near Bicester and rebuilding it.

The Cotswold stone Tusmore House, completed in 1965, will disappear and be replaced by a building designed by architect Sir William Whitfield.

Features include six large pillars at the front, rooms overlooking a six-acre lake at the back and the main entrance at first floor level at the side.

Mr Said, his wife Rosemary and their children plan to live in the new natural stone house, which is expected to take three years to build. At present they live in another house on the estate. Meanwhile, Mr Said is giving the western approach to Oxford, an eyesore for many years, a facelift. An impressive 30m illuminated tower will dominate his Business School near the railway station.

The tower, made of brick and limestone, will have a copper pyramid on top with green lights inside.

The proposal was welcomed by members of the city planning committee yesterday. Chairman Maureen Christian said: "It will be the first landmark visible from the train station as visitors enter the city. "We think it will be exciting and intriguing. It will be completely different from any tower or spire in the city. At night it should be quite a sight."

It was designed by architects Sir Jeremy Dickson and Edward Jones, who worked on Covent Garden Opera House and the National Gallery in London.

It is controversial because it differs from Oxford's world-famous towers and spires.

But planning officer Murray Hancock said it should sit comfortably with them and become a significant landmark.

Story date: Saturday 26 February

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