The new £7 million state-of-the-art School of Nursing and Midwifery just opened at Southampton University was built by Hampshire-based Dean & Dyball.

The four-storey Nightingale Building on the University's Highfield campus was opened by Dame Yvonne Moores, chief nursing officer for England and current chairman of the University's Southampton council, at a tape-cutting ceremony attended by Dean & Dyball's building director Tony Stock and regional marketing manager Jenny Taylor.

The company completed the £4.5 million construction contract in just under a year.

The new building houses teaching and study areas, a 270-seat lecture theatre, two hi-tech specialist skills laboratories, an office and administration rooms. It is home to almost 200 staff and is used by 1,000 students every day.

Mr Stock said: "We are delighted to be involved with this important project.

"It provides first-class facilities for teaching future generations of nurses and midwives and we wish every success to everyone associated with Nightingale Building.''

Professor of Nursing, Alan Gasper, told the Daily Echo: "This is the newest, best, most lavishly equipped school of its kind in the country.

"The opening of this building symbolises the opening of a new chapter in the education of health care professionals in this country, a field in which this university is at the forefront.

"The school is spearheading an ambitious project to re-write what and how health care professionals are taught, in order to equip them with the skills and knowledge needed for new and extended roles.''