Work to modernise Headington's 19th century Warneford Hospital is starting soon.

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 & Shaw are to redesign the facilities around the main corridor of the Grade II listed building.

Work to be carried out will include 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 work is scheduled to be completed by Christmas.

The Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust. recently submitted five separate planning applications to develop adjacent land at Warneford Meadow and Park Hospital.

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.

The trust says the land is surplus to its requirements as an NHS trust, and the sale would provide funds to update the hospital facilities.

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."