Interserve has secured a £17 million contract to design and construct a three storey development at the University of York’s Campus East.

The new Piazza Learning Centre will be home to learning spaces and teaching facilities, as part of a £27 million project on the campus.

This will be Interserve’s second project with the University of York and will include 36 flexible learning spaces, including two laboratories, a large restaurant, a 100 seat lecture theatre, a 350 seat auditorium and offices spread across 70,000 sq ft.

The University’s International Pathway College will use the new building, along with providing further teaching space for Campus East.

A joint venture between Kaplan and the University of York, the International Pathway College will provide academic preparation programmes for international students before they progress to their undergraduate and postgraduate studies within the university.

Director of the International Pathway College, Dr Matthew Perry, commented: “This will be a fantastic teaching and learning space for staff and students and is indicative of the scale of ambition at the University of York and our confidence in the IPC’s ability to attract students from all over the world.  We’re already looking forward to moving in.”

Work on the site will commence this week, with groundworks getting underway next month. Interserve will hope to achieve a ‘very good’ BREEAM rating for the project.

Earlier in the month, shares in Interserve rocketed after the decision to close its energy from waste business.

The FTSE-250 company’s share price soared following proposals to stop building plants that generate energy from ‘green bin’ residual waste in the group’s financial results presentation on Wednesday (10 August).

The main reasons cited for ditching the renewable energy operations were cost over-runs and delays with the Recycling and Renewable Energy Centre in Glasgow, with the Scottish gasification project reportedly landing the company a £70m charge on a £146m contract.