A bidding race has started for a new £65 million science and computing building at the University of Leeds city campus.

The North Eastern Quarter building complex will be home to the Bragg Centre for advanced materials and imaging; creating new homes for the schools of astronomy, physics and computing.

The project will see the redevelopment of the grade II listed old mining building and the demolition of the estates building and central boiler house.

The planned new six storey Bragg laboratory block will be linked with the old mining building by a new five storey atrium.

The multi-disciplinary research and teaching facility will give a new gateway to the Northern section of the University of Leeds campus.

One of the NEQ project’s main objectives is to provide a development that retains high quality in realising the design requirements and complex parts of the scheme.

Under the NEC contract, the university is looking to run a two stage bidding process with a £200,000 payment to be made to the second placed bidder in the second stage.

Firms who are interested in bidding for the contract can find more information from the procurement portal.

The contract is due to be awarded in November next year for the 24 month building scheme.

Meanwhile, the construction on the University of Lincoln’s new £17.5 million Isaac Newton building is accelerating towards a spring 2017 completion date after 50,000 hours of labour.

Project contractors have been sharing their progress on the scheme for over a year of construction with high resolution visual flyarounds of the building, as well as impressive drone footage of the four storey, 7,432 square metre development.

The building will now be home to the schools of physics, engineering and mathematics and computer science and will form the next phase of the university’s progressing masterplan.