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.

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