Plans have been approved for a new £75 million Creative Arts building at Leeds Beckett University.

Designed by architects Hawkins\Brown, the 14,500 sq m development will provide a home for academic, creative and cultural activities in the civic quarter of Leeds.

Nearly 2,000 students and staff will be accommodated in the building, which will be developed near the Central Campus Development to the North and Leeds General Infirmary to the West.

Features will include; dedicated studios for fashion; performing arts and music performance; a theatre as well as a black box studio; a 220 seat Dolby Atmos cinema; a TV studio, three large film studios as well as a green screen studio; a stop motion studio; Foley studios, dubbing and music recording studios; acoustic labs and a suite of post-production studios. In addition, there will be other specialist teaching spaces that will foster inter-disciplinary collaboration, creative talent and knowledge sharing.

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Works on site will begin end of 2017, with completion estimated to be in 2020.

Andrew Fryer, Dean of the School of Film, Music and Performing Arts at Leeds Beckett, said: "The Creative Arts building will provide a home for our creative community of academics, students, researchers and practitioners, with spaces full of character that draw on Leeds Beckett University's heritage for diverse learning skills opportunities.

"At the centre of the building will be innovative learning spaces, which will allow students and staff from the school to collaborate in new and dynamic ways. We want this to be a centrepiece for the growing cultural landscape of Leeds, a part of the City's European Capital of Culture 2023 bid and a place to meet, drop by or simply visit because it's just a great place to be."

(LM/MH)