The new £50m private hospital being built at Oxford United's former football ground is taking shape.

Building work in the area where the London Road and Beech Road stands used to meet

The skeleton of the 80-bed hospital is now rising from the former Manor Ground pitch off London Road, in Headington.

Nuffield Hospitals, owners of the Acland Hospital, in Banbury Road, Oxford, said the development was on schedule, and should be completed by autumn 2004.

About 400 tonnes of steel and 8,000 tonnes of concrete have been used, replacing 25,000 cubic metres of excavated material taken away from the site.

Commissioning manager Mike Stanley said: "The steel frame has been built in the past month.

"The weather hasn't been brilliant, but it hasn't slowed us down.

"We've no reason to believe that we won't open on time."

The frame, which will be bricked in later in the project, sits on top of a basement car park with spaces for 152 cars.

Nuffield Hospitals has joined forces with developer Bellway Homes on the project, which will also create 87 homes on the site.

The hospital will offer acute treatment, and departments providing intensive care, neuro-surgery and heart surgery.

The development has been troubled by controversy, and Headington residents fought the plans, claiming it would bring more traffic into an already-congested area.

Once the city council approved the plans, there were fears that the construction work could be dangerous to people living nearby.

In January, the Oxford Mail also reported Headington residents' concerns that the private unit would be called Nuffield Hospital, Oxford, which could be confused with the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, in neighbouring Windmill Road.