Plans have been approved for a new £96 million advancing engineering and physical sciences building at the University of Leeds.

The facility is a key part of the University's £520m campus development programme and is scheduled to be completed by summer 2020.

The 15,700m2 development will relocate the School of Computing and School of Physics and Astronomy, bringing them together with colleagues in Chemistry and Engineering for the first time.

In addition, the scheme will create a new home for the Bragg Centre for Advanced Functional Materials, an internationally-recognised activity in materials characterisation and analysis of soft matter and nanostructured thin films, as well as implementing a 'superlab's concept to being together existing strengths in applied and fundamental research to support interdisciplinary problem-solving research groups.

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Once finished, the building will host around 2,000 staff and students, featuring areas of research include energy efficient computing, telecommunications, sustainable magnetic materials, sensors for use in biological systems and extreme or remote environments, pharmaceutical formulations, ‘smart foods' and medical technologies.

Professor Lisa Roberts, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Innovation, said: "The Bragg Centre's interdisciplinary culture and state-of-the-art facilities will support and attract the best minds at all levels, placing our exceptional standard of research on a global scale.

"The Bragg Centre will be a fabulous environment for cross-disciplinary teams to work on big technical challenges, drawing on our existing strengths, while working together in new and disruptive ways to improve both the quality and the scale of our research; working in such an innovative environments will also transform how we can work with our industry partners on real world problems."

Professor Steve Scott, Dean of the Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences, said: "We are creating an exceptional environment to carry out cutting-edge research; the interplay between people, working culture, equipment and buildings will be central to creating the highest quality findings and original ideas.

"The quality of our research, brought about through leading facilities and the exceptional breadth of our academic staff will drive external partnerships and attract international support, leading to greater depth in funding bids and a rise in standards of research."

(LM)