Northumbria University announced on Wednesday it would relocate the School of Design, School of Law and Newcastle Business School to the site.

The university acquired the land at Manors Metro station last spring after Vue Cinemas decided to sell the site.

The new site will cater for 3,000 extra students set to arrive by 2008.

'Greener campus'

The development will cost �102.9m - the university's largest ever investment programme.

The first stage will see the demolition of the Warner Cinema building in the early summer.

A new landmark bridge and boulevard spanning the central motorway will link the new and current university sites and make access into Newcastle city centre easier for local residents.

Vice-chancellor Professor Kel Fidler, said: "It is vital for Northumbria to establish the Newcastle city centre campus as its international headquarters.

"It is from here that we need to convince our customers... that Northumbria provides state-of-the-art university education.

"By September 2007 there will be a coherent, greener, integrated, car-free city campus with significant expansion in core teaching and research space and the creation of buildings that staff, students and local people can be proud of."