York College has appointed Balfour Beatty Construction Ltd to develop its new £60 million campus.

Building work is under way at the college's Sim Balk Lane site, on the south western gateway to the city.

The building project is one of the biggest of its kind in the country with an anticipated completion date of mid-July 2007.

Currently all students are located on the college's Tadcaster Road site which has recently had over £1 million spent on a refurbishment programme in order to comfortably accommodate all learners during the two year building period.

Funding for the new college will be financed by the sale of the Tadcaster Road site, which is to be used for housing, plus a major grant from the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) and significant funding from York College itself.

Mike Galloway, Principal of York College, said: "York can now look forward to a new state-of-the-art college, bringing social and economic benefits to the city.

"The new college will provide a massive boost to further and higher education in York and North Yorkshire and we are looking forward to opening the doors to our learners in September 2007."

Balfour Beatty Construction Director, Kevin Donegan, said: "We are delighted to be working with York College to provide a new college with a greatly enhanced education environment through the design and construction of modern buildings and facilities.

"We look forward to delivering the facility to the staff and students in Autumn 2007."

Updated: 10:54 Wednesday, September 28, 2005