Oxford Brookes University says it hopes to create "an iconic" new building on Headington Road to ensure the site is instantly recognisable as one of the UK's leading universities.

The university this week unveiled the scale of its ambitions in Headington, as it published results of a public consultation, showing strong support for contemporary architecture.

It also said a planned £110m redevelopment will establish a new zone of Oxford dedicated to education and health.

But it will respond to ongoing criticism about traffic and car parking, with a pledge that a new look Gipsy Lane site will meet needs of the local community. A large public square is expected to form one of the centrepieces of a modern campus, with more open space accessible to the public and Brookes planning to reduce academic space by 10 per cent.

Prof John Raftery, Pro-Vice Chancellor, said: "The decisions we make today will reshape the University for the future.

"We are particularly interested in the notion of Headington becoming a health and education zone of Oxford.

"With the students and car parking, everyone knows about the negatives. This is going to be good for students, the community and the city.

"Almost 70 per cent of the Gipsy Lane campus dates back to the 1950s and 1960s."

The first phase of the redevelopment will begin as early as March when Brookes hopes to demolish the Darcy Building, which takes up about a third of the Gipsy Lane site. The first draft of the masterplan for the ten-year redevelopment scheme should be submitted in January.

Prof Raftery said: "We are widely acknowledged to be the leading modern university in the UK but our current buildings do not reflect this status."

Latest figures show a three per cent rise in student numbers at Brookes. The university has 18,000 students, the same as Oxford University, and has set itself the goal of increasing its students in halls of residences, by 1,000 to 4,955.

AND THE SURVEY SAID

More than 400 people took part in the university's Space To Think public consultation.

It showed that 70 per cent want Brookes to embrace contemporary architecture, with a strong emphasis on more green spaces. Seventy-five per cent called on Brookes to promote alternatives for Headington Road and develop a distinctive identity for the area. In the consultation, 42 per cent of people said the most important thing was to improve buildings and landscape. But it now appears, despite the vast cost of the scheme, some of the large 1960s structures, such as the St Clerici and Abercrombie buildings, will be retained.

Sixty per cent of respondents called on Brookes to improve parking and encourage more cycle journeys. Transport, noise and disturbances and the quality of design were the top concerns.