Plans have been submitted for a new £30 million engineering facility in Preston.

Proposals for the new Engineering Innovation Centre (EIC) were put forward by the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan).

The facility is the first milestone in UCLan's £200m Campus Masterplan and has been identified as a 'signature project' within Lancashire's Strategic Economic Plan.

In addition, it has secured £10.5m from the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership's (LEP) Lancashire 'Growth Deal'.

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A further £5m cash boost towards equipping the facility was provided from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).

UCLan's Rob Wallace, Dean, School of Engineering, said: "This outline planning application sets out the University's ambitious and exciting vision to boost levels of innovation through increased knowledge and industry partnerships, both nationally and internationally.

"Now that the application has been lodged we can really start to look ahead to the EIC and the important role it will play in Lancashire's economy and the UK's wider Industrial Strategy.

"UCLan aims to close the skills gap by inspiring and shaping the next generation of engineering leaders, producing an extra 500 locally trained graduates a year."

The EIC is due to be completed in summer 2018.

(LM)