The University of Cumbria will develop a new £2.5m teaching block for its Lancaster campus.
Lancashire Enterprise Partnership has provided funding to the University for the development of a bespoke teaching block in Lancaster to address skills shortages.
The new building will have a 220-seat lecture theatre, social learning spaces and 2,500m2 of high quality teaching accommodation.
Dr Michele Lawty-Jones, director of the Lancashire Skills Hub, said that the money was an investment to address already identified skills shortages in the county.
Dr Lawty-Jones, said: “Improving the skills of Lancashire’s workforce is a key part of the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership’s ambitious strategic programme to transform the county’s economy and drive economic growth.
“The LEP is investing millions of pounds over the next couple of years to fund modern, well-equipped facilities, such as this one, in order to enable local people to acquire the skills our county’s economy needs and improve their employability as well.
“The facility at the Lancaster Campus of the University of Cumbria directly addresses skills shortages in the health and social care sector identified in our research, and will provide a future pipeline of skilled and competent higher apprentices and graduates desperately needed.”
The building forms a crucial part of the university’s 10-year vision and will see existing spaces at the campus being enhanced and certain buildings being demolished and rebuilt to create an improved learning environment.
Professor Peter Strike, vice chancellor of the University, said that the new campus would ensure it could meet the expectations of students.
He added: “We would like to thank the Lancashire LEP for their generous support.
“The university is committed to providing students with a high quality learning experience; by investing and improving our Lancaster campus we are able to meet the demands and expectations of our students and, in turn, help to meet the workforce needs of our region.”
The demolition of buildings is already underway and the new area will be in operation in time for the 2017-18 academic year.