PLANS to build a new £70m further education college at Oxpens are unveiled today, with the existing Oxford and Cherwell Valley College buildings to be demolished.

The city-centre campus is to be completely redeveloped, with the sprawling collection of dated buildings replaced by an iconic glass-fronted structure.

About 40 per cent of the college site is to be sold for housing, retail and office use, to help fund the new state-of-the-art learning and community facilities.

And the college has also revealed ambitious plans to completely overhaul its campus in Blackbird Leys in a separate £16m scheme.

The ageing college in Oxpens was always seen as a key site in the future redevelopment of the West End.

And the scheme to create a modern new college facing out on to the Castle Mill Stream is viewed as a first major step to transform the run-down quarter of the city.

The college is proposing a public market place in front of a modern four-storey building. A bistro, cafe bar area, hairdresser and beauty salon, operated by students, would open at the front of the college to showcase student work.

There are also plans for new community facilities within the new building, including a theatre, entertainment hall, conference facilities and dance studio.

In what is though to be one of the largest further education college projects undertaken in the UK, the proposed development will take three to five years to complete.

Sally Dicketts, the OCVC's principal and chief executive, said: "This masterplan is all about making our vision, to be an outstanding college of further education, come to life.

"Oxford is already well known for its two leading universities. We want to offer equally world-class facilities for those people in Oxfordshire who wish to pursue a vocational education and for employers wishing to develop their workforce.

"If the plans are approved, it will put Oxford and Cherwell Valley College well and truly on the map, confirming us as a cutting-edge learning establish- ment."

The ambitious city and Blackbird Leys campus schemes come hot on the heels of the announcement of a £33m redevelopment of its Banbury campus. Together they will bring the college's redevelopment budget to a massive £118m.

Many of the buildings facing demolition on the Oxpens site are more than 40 years old. A large parcel of land on the western edge of the city-centre site will be sold. Almost half the Blackbird Leys site in Cuddesdon Way will also go for housing, with some land possibly used for all-weather pitches.

The two schemes, however, will be dependent on a substantial contribution coming from the Learning and Skills Council.

An outline planning application will go to Oxford City Council in a few weeks' time, with the college hoping that work could begin next summer. Construction is expected to be completed in 2010, with work carried out in phases to minimise the disruption to students.

But the building work will inevitably coincide with building work on the £300m redevelopment of the Westgate shopping centre, which is expected to open in 2011.

The Westgate's new car park is only a short distance from the college.

The college presently has 10,000 students. Teaching ranges from degree-level courses to evening language classes. Hundreds of schoolchildren visit the college for vocational training every week.

Despite the loss of land, the college says the redevelopment will allow it to increase student numbers by 20 per cent.

The college has been one of the main partners in the West End regeneration project along with Oxfordshire County Council, Oxford City Council and SEEDA (South East England Development Agency).

A West End action plan was submitted to the Government earlier this month.

Stephen McCormick, OCVC vice-principal (strategic finance and planning), said the West End redevelopment had presented the college with a unique opportunity to modernise.

He said: "The buildings here go back to the sixties and do not meet our current needs in terms of designs and running cost. There is, in fact, a surplus of space and we are taking this opportunity to upgrade."

He said the college was determined to create a landmark building, with the emphasis on making the college more accessible to the general public.

It would also seek to exploit the attractive Castle Mill Stream, which crosses the site.

Opening up the city's waterways has always been one of the key aspirations of the West End regeneration.

The college becomes the third educational establishment to unveil a multi-million-pound scheme in recent months.

Oxford Brookes has submitted a masterplan to transform its campus in Headington, while Oxford University has released details of plans to transform the Radcliffe Infirmary site into the university's main city-centre campus.

The Oxford University scheme will cost an estimated £500m.

Mr McCormick added: "The two universities have a higher profile. But our college makes an enormous contribution by providing skills and training for the local economy."

Oxford and Cherwell Valley College was formed in 2003 as the result of a merger of Rycotewood College in Thame, Oxford College of Further Education and North Oxfordshire College.

Oxford and Cherwell Valley College's plans will go on display at a public exhibition in the reception areas of both the Oxpens and Blackbird Leys campuses from July 9 to 13.

Members of the project team will be available at Blackbird Leys on July 10 and at the Oxpens campus on July 12 from 5.20 to 8pm.