A £30 MILLION development to create a new 'campus heart' for Teesside University is taking shape in Middlesbrough town centre.

An online virtual tour of the new pedestrianised site at Southfield Road shows how social learning spaces and state of the art lecture theatres and multi-purpose teaching rooms will be created with the aim of attracting students from across the country to Middlesbrough.

Malcolm Page, deputy chief executive (chief operating officer) of the university, said the new building was part of a wider set of developments aimed at providing the “best possible student experience”.

“The landscaped campus heart is really taking shape,” he said.

“For the first time we have a pedestrianised campus. We think this is going to have a real transformational impact in the centre of the university and wider town.”

The project design reflected feedback from students, with an emphasis on “social learning” spaces.

A ground floor room includes a space for tablets and laptops and sofas as well as desks so students benefit from a mix of the modern and the traditional.

Students from all faculties within the university are likely to benefit from the new campus.

The £6 million Orion Engineering Site will also be ready on the site in September.

A new health and fitness suite in the Olympia building is also due to open and Mr Page believes the developments coming together are helping to transform the town into a real student hub.

He said: “The university is bringing more footfall into the town which has more benefits for local business and we think what we are doing will have a much bigger impact across the whole town.

“First and foremost, this will increase the attractiveness of the university as a destination for students.”