Oxford Brookes University is ready to redraw its plans for a new Headington campus in a final bid to rescue the controversial £150m scheme.

Brookes will seek to appease residents who oppose the redevelopment of the Gipsy Lane campus, by lowering the height of the centrepiece library building facing residential properties.

Brookes says it is determined to try to avoid a costly planning appeal, following the rejection of the scheme by Oxford city councillors in September.

The new plan would see the section of the library building facing Headington Hill reduced to four storeys, from the six storeys that had been originally proposed. It would also see a significant reduction in the amount of glass in that side of the building.

To compensate for the loss of space, Brookes will seek to enlarge the basement library that it is proposing to build. The changes to the plan would add at least another £1m to the overall cost.

But Brookes is anxious to get its plans to transform its main campus back on track, in the hope it could still be completed by September 2013.

The university is planning to present its ideas to residents’ groups in Headington over the next few days. The bulk of the objections submitted to Oxford City Council had focused on the size and position of the centrepiece student centre building, originally 25.8m high, which would house a library and teaching facilities. Paul Large, Brookes University’s acting registrar, said he believed the modifications addressed residents’ main concerns, without abandoning the original vision of a modern campus that created a new gateway into Oxford.

Mr Large said: “Rather than rush to a decision, the governors decided to have a period of reflection. We estimate that an appeal would cost the university £200,000.”

Tony Joyce, of the Oxford Civic Society, said: “Everyone hopes that Brookes will be able to produce revised designs that will meet the criticisms of the previous proposals.”

Susan Lake, chairman of the Headington Hill Residents’ Association, said: “It sounds disappointingly like these are the same designs and they are still tinkering around the edges.”