WORK to modernise the 19th-century Warneford Hospital, in Headington, is shortly to begin.

The Warneford, which provides mental healthcare services, is to receive a £100,000 facelift to deliver major improvements for patients and staff.

The award-winning Oxford-based architects Gray Baynes & Shew are to redesign the facilities around the main corridor of the Grade II listed building.

Work to be carried out will include the provision of a new reception area, improved interview and waiting rooms and the upgrading of mechanical and electrical services. The scheme will also see the restoration of parts of the Victorian interior, along with the reduction of potential self-harm hazards. The work will incorporate special art schemes designed by local artists working with the Trust.

The hospital is owned and managed by the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust. The work is scheduled to be completed by Christmas and is one of a number of improvement schemes scheduled between the Trust and company under a framework agreement.

It will be carried out by South Midlands Contractors, based in Culham.

The trust recently submitted five separate planning applications to develop land at Warneford Meadow and Park Hospital in Headington. The Trust says the development of the sensitive sites would raise funds towards much needed improvements to patient facilities.

It wants to build homes for hundreds of key workers and students along with substantial new research and academic buildings. There are two applications each for the Warneford Meadow and Park sites, one for residential use and one for research purposes. There is a further application to build social housing on a football pitch.

A trust spokesman earlier said: ""The land adjoining the hospitals is surplus to our requirements as an NHS trust. With the money that a sale of this land would raise, we could refurbish wards and bring the environment for treating patients up to date."

A master plan unveiled at a one day public exhibition, gave an indication of the likely scale of the scheme - which could see hundreds of new homes and accommodation for more than 3,000 students on the two sites.

Harry Edwards, planning secretary of the Highfield Residents' Association, said the issue of the refurbishment of the hospital should not influence the outcome of the planning application. Mr Edwards said: "What they use the money for is irrelevant as far as planning goes."