A FACILTY to promote creative research in the North-East was opened yesterday after a £4m refurbishment.

The groundbreaking Culture Lab, at Newcastle University, will enable postgraduate researchers from diverse fields to collaborate on innovative projects.

It has taken nearly three years to plan and transform the Grand Assembly Rooms, on the campus in Newcastle's Haymarket, into a pioneering project to bring people from different disciplines together.

Culture Lab will be the first port of call for postgraduate researchers who want to break new ground by reaching beyond the arts and science divide.

Culture Lab director Dr Sally Jane Norman said: "Culture Lab will boost the university's international research reputation and it will also enhance the region's reputation for cultural innovation.

"The key to the project is new kinds of interdisciplinary research, using an exciting digital resource to attract people from the university's three faculties and numerous institutes. We believe this will inspire a new generation of creative thinking."

It has space for performances, lectures and interactive displays, and modern workshops where people can customise hardware and software.

Specific facilities include a testing and recording studio for digital sound, labs for multimedia audio-visual projects, and specialist display and tracking environments for live image processing, 3D simulations, and pervasive computing using a range of mobile devices such as cell phones.

Culture Lab aims to network with other cultural institutions, including Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Sage Gateshead music centre, Northern Stage and Great North Museum, and pioneering scientific establishments such as the International Centre for Life.

Built as the Grand Assembly Rooms in 1889, the Culture Lab was last used as the university's sports centre.