Planning application submitted for a 950,000 sq ft mental health and medical research campus in Oxford

22 August 2025

Designs for Warneford Park have been prepared by Eric Parry Architects on behalf of Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust.
Eric Parry Architects’ architectural vision will integrate the existing 200-year-old, Grade II listed hospital buildings within a 950,000 sq ft development of new facilities, bringing together clinical care, multi-disciplinary science and education on one site.
The ambitious project, delivered in partnership with the University of Oxford and a benefactor presents an opportunity to create a mental health and research-powered medical science campus that will provide outstanding new mental healthcare facilities for Oxfordshire, alongside a new research centre for the University of Oxford, including housing the Department of Psychiatry, and related commercial medical researchfacilities.
The project will establish the first new University of Oxford College that is at the heart of the hospital and medical science ecosystem in Headington.
Working with landscape architects Todd Longstaffe-Gowan, the plans propose a revitalised landscape-led masterplan to create an exceptional environment for healthcare, medical research and education.

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust has submitted a hybrid planning application for the major renewal of the Warneford Hospital site in Headington to the east of Oxford city centre.

Warneford Park will provide a new, mental health hospital alongside a medical research and innovation centre designed by Eric Parry Architects. This research centre will aim to tackle some of the most important issues in brain and mental health by discovering new drug therapies, and new forms of treatment. A new generation of research will link fundamental discoveries to new clinical practices, treatments and globally scalable pharmaceutical products, faster than ever before.

Eric Parry Architects’ proposal sensitively repurposes the existing grade II-listed hospital buildings on the site, converting them into a new graduate college of the University of Oxford. New accommodation and ancillary buildings will provide facilities that will include en-suite rooms for 250 students, academic offices, meeting rooms and teaching spaces, a performance and rehearsal space, a dining hall, informal study spaces and a library.

To the east of the site, the first phase of the project will see the creation of new buildings totalling 685,000 sq ft across a purpose-built mental health hospital and a medical research centre. The operations of Warneford Hospital will continue uninterrupted while the building project is carried out, with patients and staff transferring from the old listed buildings when construction work is complete. The listed buildings will then be converted to the new graduate college.

The medical research centre will deliver the full benefits of the research and development activity and support the hospital’s work from day one. Flexible lab-enabled space will support a range of occupiers, including the university and commercial tenants – from start-ups to mature biotech and pharma companies with track records in delivering new treatments to patients.

Sustainability is a key consideration of the plans: from the re-use of historic buildings, the application of the Passivhaus principles and NHS Net Zero Carbon Standard, and the revitalisation of the historic landscape. Eric Parry Architects has worked with the renowned landscape architect Todd Longstaffe-Gowan to create grounds that incorporate a variety of settings and activity, including ornamental gardens, rain gardens, and productive spaces for patients. The biodiversity of the site will be boosted by the creation of new habitat that complements the neighbouring Warneford Meadow, a designated Town Green.

This focus on landscape is grounded in a positive approach to patient wellness through therapeutic spaces that connect with nature. Eric Parry Architects has led an extensive co- design process with clinical staff and experts by experience: former patients with lived experience at Warneford Hospital. The new hospital will comprise four wings of two storeys radiating from a central spine of therapeutic and communal accommodation. These “fingers” of patient accommodation across eight wards will frame open-ended courts of landscape, resulting in spaces that create a sense of enclosure and security while allowing long views over the surrounding landscape. Every ward will have a strong visual and physical connection to the outdoors, that will allow patients to retain a sense of their location within the building and the wider landscape.

The new buildings will have a palette of natural materials, including unglazed terracotta, pre- cast concrete, stone and timber, that will sit harmoniously alongside the listed buildings. The setting and design of the new buildings will maximise the availability of natural light to provide exemplary accommodation in the hospital spaces, the offices and laboratories of the research centre and the new college facilities.

Eric Parry, Founder at Eric Parry Architects said:

“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.”

Robert Dawson, Director at Eric Parry Architects said:

“The existing Warneford Hospital buildings are thought to be the oldest in-patient buildings in continuous use within the NHS Estate. Our proposals will create new patient accommodation in buildings designed to support contemporary clinical care and safeguard the future of the grade II listed buildings by converting them for use as a new University of Oxford graduate college.”