OXFORD University's youngest college has lodged plans to develop the final piece of land at its main campus.

St Catherine's College, founded in 1962, wants to build three 'pavilion style' buildings that would include 78 student rooms, as well as a new three-storey 'graduate centre'.

It is part of ongoing plans to house more students on its Manor Road campus rather than in private housing elsewhere in the city.

Documents lodged with Oxford City Council add: "It represents the college’s last pocket of developable land within the main college campus."

The project to build the new accommodation will finish the development of almost eight acres of land, which St Catherine's originally acquired from Merton College in 1960.

This came after many years of work to establish itself. It started as the St Catherine's Club in late 1800s, set up to allow students who could not afford the prohibitive costs of college membership, and was renamed the St Catherine's Society in 1931.

It obtained permission from the university in 1956 to become a full residential college and over the next four years searched for a suitable site and fundraised to buy it.

Danish architect Arne Jacobsen was chosen to design its buildings, finished in 1962, which were later hailed as modernist masterpieces and given Grade I-listed status.

It has been expanded twice since, once in the 1980s by Knud Holscher and again in 1995 and 2003 by Stephen Hodder.

The land where new buildings are proposed was originally set aside for a lecture theatre but St Catherine's said it no longer needed this.

Its total student population is 954 students, of which 407 are graduates. The college said 56 per cent currently have to rent privately elsewhere in the city and it wanted to reduce this.

The development is 'a significant opportunity to extend upon St Catherine’s wonderful architectural history', plans say.

They add: "From the outset, the aspiration has been to continue the themes set by Hodder and Jacobsen’s earlier works.

"The college has been a great custodian of the Jacobsen buildings and landscape, the condition of them is testament to this."

Designers at latest architect Purcell said they wanted to continue the design style of Jacobsen and Hodder with the three accommodation blocks, completing a long-held masterplan of the site.

But they also proposed circular design for the graduate centre, which uses the 'order and rational architecture of the Hodder pavilions whilst drawing on Jacobsen’s use of circular forms'.

This would include sitting areas, a seminar room and common room.

The city council is holding a public consultation on the plans until May 4.

Members of the public can comment by visiting public.oxford.gov.uk/online-applications and using the reference: 17/00758/FUL