An Oxford student is playing a part in the project to build a new skyscraper in New York on the site of the World Trade Center, which was destroyed in the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.

Christian Bergner, from Wood Farm, has won a four-month contract with Libeskind, the leading architectural firm that has designed the Freedom Tower.

The 22-year-old is in his second year of an architecture and design degree at Oxford Brookes University and is thrilled to have been given the opportunity.

The World Trade Center's twin towers were destroyed, along with several adjacent buildings, when airliners were hijacked by terrorists and used as flying bombs to crash into the buildings.

More than 2,700 people were killed in the attacks.

Mr Bergner will be part of a team working for architect Daniel Libeskind to make models and produce detailed plans for the new building.

He said: "Daniel Libeskind is one of my favourite architects and it's a great opportunity. I hope to gain lots of experience, which I can then use for my future career."

Mr Bergner admitted there was a great responsibility with the role, but thought the tower could breathe new life into the city.

He said: "When you stand on Ground Zero, you feel very sad about it because you remember what happened and you see people crying and praying at the site.

"It was not good, but it seems to have made America stronger and this project shows they're not giving up but are starting again and looking to the future.

"I think the Freedom Tower can become one of the major icons of America."

Mr Bergner, who is German, will fly to America on Friday, May 18, and return to the UK in September, ready to begin the third year of his course at Brookes.

The new Freedom Tower will be 70 floors high and topped by wind-harvesting turbines that the designers say will provide 20 per cent of the building's energy.

The tower's height of 1,776ft - symbolic of the year of the US Declaration of Independence from Britain - includes a 276ft spire.

The building is expected to be completed by 2011.