DEMOLITION of the Warner Brothers cinema in Newcastle got under way yesterday after planners approved Northumbria University's new campus.
Deputy vice-chancellor Professor Tony Dickson and deputy vice-chancellor David Chesser started the work, with a machine with crushing jaws biting into the building.
Demolition is expected to take eight weeks and work on the campus will begin in November.
The move follows the university's acquisition of land near Manors Metro station last spring, after Vue Cinemas decided to sell.
Three of the university's academic schools - the school of design, school of law and Newcastle business school, will move to the site in September 2007.
The total development, including work on buildings on the existing campus, will cost £102.9m.
It is the university's largest investment programme.
Professor Dickson said: "This development will give the university one of the best inner city campuses in the country as well as creating iconic new buildings that will dramatically improve the quality of buildings in Newcastle."
From its new site, the school of design will play a role in the Northern Way initiative, which seeks to locate world-class design expertise in the region.
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