TWO-thirds of Oxford Brookes University's Gipsy Lane campus is to be demolished to make way for a modern university in Headington.

Brookes today will also announce plans to build a 1,000-seat public hall at its Headington Hill Hall site.

The new Oxford performing venue would be created on the site of the former headquarters of Pergamon Press, with an impressive multi-function 'rotunda' a surprise addition to the university's £110m development scheme.

Brookes is also unveiling plans for a new iconic entrance to the university, behind a central courtyard facing Headington Road.

The public square would act as the main pedestrian and cyclist entry point, allowing bus services to pull off the main road to drop off and pick up passengers on the Brookes campus.

The square would also feature shops and cafés open to the public, with Brookes insistent that its new masterplan held the promise of "unlocking the Brookes campus for the community".

It has emerged that only three buildings on the Gipsy Lane campus will survive the ambitious ten-year development plan.

Construction work is expected to start as early as the summer, with the demolition of the now largely empty Darcy Building, which takes up about a third of the site.

The new campus would include seven courtyards or quads, with the buildings replacing 1950s and 60s structures to be contemporary in design.

A second consultation on the 'Campus for the Future' will run from February 1 to 10, with the masterplan to be submitted to Oxford City Council in March.

A design competition will be held for a striking landmark building of up to four storeys at the gateway to the campus, housing a new library, computer rooms, bookshop, banks, cafés and shops.

Deputy vice-chancellor Rex Knight said: "Our campus at Headington operates like a small town during the academic year, with cafés, a restaurant, insurance facilities, sports centre and, of course, a large library.

"These facilities are mostly tucked away inside the campus and are seen as inaccessible for many people in the local community.

"These proposals are exciting because they show that by redesigning our campus, we can centralise and expand these core services and make them more accessible for the community in Oxford.

"Thousands of people pass Brookes every day on public transport.

"The proposals to create a new public square with a bus stop means services like banking, shops and cafés will become viable all year around.

"An additional benefit would be a new library which could serve both students and the local community."

A new entrance is also planned for the Headington Hill Hall site, once home to Robert Maxwell and the centre of his business empire.

The Helena Kennedy Building, which houses the student union bar and live music venue, would be demolished, to be replaced by a series of new buildings, providing a range of new public performing spaces. The public hall at its centre would be used for graduations, large conferences, concerts, theatre and public lectures.

The university is also proposing ambitious changes to its Wheatley site, including the demolition of the tower block, a new access road from the A40 and more student accommodation at the southern end of the site.

The plan is to locate more student halls of residences on the existing Wheatley site, making the campus more self-contained.

Prof John Raftery, pro vice-chancellor and dean for the School of the Built Environment, said: "Our challenge is to put in place a masterplan that not only improves the quality of our campus for our staff and students, but also the quality of life for people living in Headington and Wheatley.

"This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform this university by improving the quality of our estate, both aesthetically and environmentally.

"We have already seen strong support for a proposal to remove the Wheatley tower and reduce traffic flows through Wheatley and Holton villages by creating a new entry road."

Brookes will be launching a major fundraising campaign for the development.

The Sinclair, Abercrombie and Buckley buildings will be retained as teaching spaces.

Poorer-quality structures to be demolished will include the Clerici and Lloyd buildings.

Brookes says it will not be increasing car parking spaces at its Headington campus, with the parking area to be located at the rear of the campus, near the back of Cheney School.

The multi-million pound scheme, which Brookes says will establish a new zone of Oxford dedicated to education and health, has divided residents in Headington.

Ken Robertson, of Latimer Road, earlier warned the scheme amounted to "a self-declared takeover of Headington".

London Road resident Dr Brian Anderson said the scheme should start "alarm bells ringing for local residents".

However, Tony Joyce, chairman of the co-ordinating committee of Headington Residents' Associations, said the plan was exciting, but left Brookes with the problem of finding accommodation for existing students.