The practice handed in a hybrid application for the scheme at Warneford Park in the Headington district of the university city.
Backed by Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Oxford, the proposals would create a mental health hospital and a medical research centre across more than 60,000m² of new buildings to the east of the existing site.
The 199-year-old structures currently used by Warneford Hospital would then be converted into a college for graduates to further their studies in medical sciences, bio-engineering and related disciplines.
Further new buildings will create en-suite rooms for 250 students as well as academic offices, meeting rooms, teaching spaces, a performance and rehearsal space, a dining hall, informal study areas and a library.
Practice founder Eric Parry said sustainability was a ‘key consideration’ throughout the plans, with Passivhaus principles to be applied along with compliance with the NHS Net Zero Carbon Standard.
Landscape architect Todd Longstaffe-Gowan has designed grounds incorporating ornamental and rain gardens as well as a new habitat complementing the neighbouring Warneford Meadow.
The new hospital would comprise four two-storey wings of patient accommodation radiating from a central spine of therapeutic and communal spaces.
Parry said every ward would have ‘a strong visual and physical connection to the outdoors’, allowing patients to ‘retain a sense of their location within the building and the wider landscape’.
Natural materials selected for the hospital include unglazed terracotta, precast concrete, stone and timber. The practice said this would ensure the new structures ‘sit harmoniously alongside the listed buildings’.
Parry added: ‘Warneford Park presents a unique opportunity to realise the full benefits of research collaboration through the long-term partnership between the Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Oxford.
‘By providing shared facilities for the significant concentration of expertise located here in Oxford, Warneford Park will create an outstanding environment for healthcare, innovation and education, supporting the UK’s internationally-significant contribution to the field of medical research.’
Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust chief executive Grant Macdonald said the project represented a ‘once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’ to transform mental health services in Oxfordshire.
‘It would allow us to provide high-quality care for patients in modern facilities and a therapeutic environment, with on-site research translated directly into clinical practice,’ he added.
‘Our plans are respectful of the incredible heritage of the site. Through considered restoration of the historic hospital buildings we will give them a new lease of life, while continuing the site’s long history of providing mental health care.’
Professor Irene Tracey, vice-chancellor of Oxford University, hailed an ‘exciting moment’ as the plans were submitted.
‘Warneford Park will bring together leading experts from science, healthcare and industry in a world-class, purpose-built environment that is fit for the future,’ she said.
‘If approved and funded, this new facility will enable us to accelerate scientific discovery into benefits for patients, as well as driving forward positive change nationally and internationally.’
