A NEW £28 million state-of-the-art sports facility is to be built in the centre of Southampton.

With its plans given the green light, Southampton Solent University’s new facility will see two new sports halls, three fitness studios and two gyms on its East Park Terrace campus.

It is the latest step in an ongoing £100 million development plan which the university hopes will transform its campus.

It comes after the plans for the facility have been approved by Southampton City Council’s planning committee.

Building work for the project will start as soon as Monday and the centre will then be open for students during summer 2019.

Solent University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Graham Baldwin said: “Starting work on the new sports building is great news for our students and staff, as well as our local community and the city.

“It forms the latest phase of our exciting, ongoing estates development and in addition to our sector leading Spark building, it represents a further physical manifestation of our commitment to excellence in learning and teaching.”

The new structure will sit alongside the £33 million Spark building and link to the rest of the campus site.

Southampton property consultancy firm JLL advised on the planning applications and said the building looked set to become a landmark in the city.

David Ramsay, director in planning and development said: “This brand new, purpose-built sports building will be an enormous asset to the university and the wider city.

“These state-of-the-art facilities will attract students both from across the UK and overseas, boosting the university’s profile and resulting in a positive economic impact on the local area.

“There are few sports centres in the region of this calibre and, with its eye-catching appearance, it looks set to become a landmark building, certainly for the university campus, if not for the city itself.

“In an increasingly competitive higher education sector, we are seeing universities across the Solent region and indeed other parts of the UK investing significantly in improving their campuses and learning facilities to ensure they remain innovative and ahead of the game to attract the students they need.”

The building represents the next phase of development after the university was handed the keys to its Spark building in June last year.

It gave the university 40 new learning spaces with audio-visual and teaching technology when it opened its doors.

It means the university has spent more than £60 million on two new buildings in recent years.

As well as the halls, studios and gyms, the new sports building will offer teaching facilities to students in two years time.