A MAJOR scheme to expand Oxford University Press headquarters in Oxford has been put forward.

The firm, one of the world’s most famous publishing houses, wants to build a new three-storey wing because it says it is running out of space for staff at its offices in Jericho.

A number of buildings, including several Victorian brick workshops, will be demolished to make way for the new build.

The existing C wing will be demolished, with the exception of the property standing at 35 Walton Street.

Bosses at Oxford University Press (OUP) say the new wing, which will add 20 per cent more office space, will consist of a ground, first and second floor with a basement, with the building in line with the height of existing buildings.

The firm currently employs more than 1,800 people at its Oxford offices, but they have not ruled out hiring additional staff.

Stewart Pegum, director of facilities and estates at OUP, said: “We have been working closely with local residents, the Oxford Preservation Trust and local councillors to ensure the plans are in keeping with our surroundings, and to minimise any possible impact on residents.”

A design document by Oxford-based architects Berman Guedes Stretton, and submitted to the city council, says: “The existing buildings are a disparate collection of 19th and 20th century buildings, which are largely inefficient, and do not make the best use of the available site.”

The Victorian workshops are said to be of little architectural interest, currently offering “some of the least efficient accommodation, in terms of both energy and space use, on the OUP site”.

It adds that the removal of buildings will allow a pedestrian link to be created running from an existing courtyard to a new landscaped area, currently a car park.

The D wing would be refurbished to provide open plan office space.

The plan would mean building schemes being undertaken on both sides of Walton Street.

Across the road Oxford University is transforming the former Radcliffe Infirmary site into a new quarters, in one of the biggest developments in its history.

The expansion plans will be decided by Oxford City Council on a date yet to be set.

But not all residents support the scheme.

Paul Hornby, vice chairman of Jericho Community Association (JCA), said: “What is proposed is not in keeping with the rest of the buildings. It is very much a modern design.

“Jericho has just been made a conservation area.

“We would have preferred something that reflects the character of the area.”

George Taylor, a committee member of the JCA, said: “There will be a lot of interest in this application. We shall be discussing it at our next meeting in April.

“Jericho is a community which has been brought together by the boatyard redevelopment saga and its two public inquiries over the last 12 years.

“We have consulted them on our ideas for the redevelopment of the canalside and a new community centre.

“It would be nice if they consulted us in turn.”