Forth Valley College has started hunting for a contractor to build the new £83 million Falkirk Campus.

The College is now looking for a developer after gaining project approval from the Scottish Government and the Scottish Funding Council.

The new facility will be built on the College's former Middlefield site on Grangemouth Road and work is scheduled to begin in September 2017.

Designed by architectural firm Reiach and Hall, features will include modern, flexible and technology-enabled spaces with industry standard workshops, laboratories and classrooms. In addition, it will include a Learning Resource Centre, food outlets, hair and beauty salons, conference space and sports facilities. The facility will also be built with sustainability in mind and is expected to achieve a BREEAM 'Very Good' or 'Excellent' rating.

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It will serve as Forth Valley College's headquarters and will complete Forth Valley College's estates development strategy, following on from a new Alloa Campus which opened in 2011 and a new Stirling Campus which opened in 2012.

Overall, more than 410 staff members and 2,000 full-time students will be based at the campus once the project is completed in 2019.

Forth Valley College Principal, Dr Ken Thomson, said: "Now that the full business case has been approved, the green light has been given for us to put the plans out to procurement so we can begin the process of choosing who should build what will be a fantastic new campus, a wonderful learning environment and a legacy building that Falkirk and Scotland as a whole will be proud of.

"All going well we should be looking at work starting in September 2017 with a completion date in August 2019."

Deputy First Minister Deputy First Minister added: "I am delighted that the new Falkirk campus for Forth Valley College has been approved and that ‎students and staff will get the new state-of-the-art facility they need and deserve."

(LM/MH)