A MULTI-MILLION pound learning centre will be "spectacular" when it opens to students, staff and the public next year, bosses said last night.

The £34.5m Darlington College under construction off Haughton Road, in the town, is running to budget and on schedule for a September 2006 opening.

Executive director of customer relations, Sue Campbell, told a meeting of the Darlington College Employer Network the scheme was the largest investment in post-16 education in the Tees Valley and one of the biggest in the country.

"It is going to be spectacular when it opens," she said. "There will be an opportunity soon to visit the new college and we are also looking for sponsors.

"The vision we had five years ago is now becoming a reality - but it doesn't stop there.

"We are now looking at what is going to happen in Darlington in the next five to ten years. We need to make sure we have the right strategy in place to fit that vision and that people living here have the right skills."

The new learning centre is one of the biggest of its type in the country as the college works in partnership with the council, Tees Valley Regeneration and Shepherd Construction to be a key element of Darlington's new Central Park regeneration development.

A huge glass plaza-style entrance will greet students and visitors, around which will be arranged front-of-house services, such as a restaurant and caf, hair and beauty salons and a library and learning resource centre.

Corridors will lead to the main blocks, including media and design, music technology, sports and engineering centres.

The first and second floors will form the new university centre, which will bring together the further and higher education skills of Darlington College with the Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College and University of Teesside.