TEESSIDE University has been granted full planning consent to build a brand new flagship £20m teaching facility at the heart of its Middlesbrough campus.

The new landmark building demonstrates the university’s commitment to investing further in growth and enhancing the experience of its students and its work with business and communities across the Tees Valley.

The planning application also outlines a vision for extensive landscaping and improvements to the area.

This investment reflects the commitment of the University to build on its recent achievement of receiving a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for excellence in higher education.

Teesside University has already invested close to £200m on the Middlesbrough campus in recent years to provide top class facilities for both students and the local and regional community.

With the existing library and students’ union, this new development will create a central space providing a vibrant, flexible, safe and attractive environment for use by students and the community.

The proposed new building will provide a mix of flexible modern teaching space and offices. This additional space will also allow the university can make changes to its office accommodation on campus in order to further develop the library. which last year underwent a £2m refurbishment.

Preparatory work to ensure the land is ready for construction to begin has already started. This involved taking down the former club known as the Knights of St Columba and removing a number of poor quality deciduous trees. New, younger and more appropriate trees will be planted as part of this investment with a full planting scheme to provide fresh landscaping and improvements to the surrounding area which will complement the cosmopolitan vision for the centre of campus.

Professor Graham Henderson , vice-chancellor and chief executive of Teesside University said: “We are delighted that the university is thriving and that we can continue to grow and invest in our campuses at Darlington and here at Middlesbrough. “Our students, community partners, neighbours and the businesses we work with are at the heart of everything we do and we want to offer them a central heart to our town centre campus which provides high quality facilities and an attractive environment.

“This development will not just benefit our students, our neighbours and the people of the town, it will offer new facilities that contribute to the economy of the region and enhance the profile of Middlesbrough, so we can continue to attract the best new students and staff and engage fully with employers and investors.”