Building will start next month on a new multi-million pound hospital at the Manor Ground which will double private health care provision in Oxford.

Firoz Kassam, the chairman of Oxford United, has finally sold the club's old home, in London Road, Headington, to developers Bellway Homes and Nuffield Hospitals, owner of the city's private Acland Hospital.

Mr Kassam had suggested he might submit an application for housing on the entire site but has dropped the idea.

Managers at the Acland would not reveal how much they paid for the Manor Ground, but it is thought to be about £6m.

The 70-room hospital and 87 flats are due to be completed by September 2004.

Acland business development manager Mel Westley said: "The development will take about two years, by the time we have done the demolition work and the building work."

She said planning consultants would help managers finalise the hospital's internal design.

The new hospital will be more than twice the size of the existing 36-bed hospital, in Banbury Road.

There will be at least 20 consulting rooms, compared with the current 10, and it will have an intensive care section in addition to the present high-dependency unit.

Nuffield Hospitals has not decided whether to transfer staff from Banbury Road, or keep both hospitals open.