Work on new Gloucester campus underway at former Debenhams

The new build will cost about £50m and is part funded by government grants

Work is well under way to turn an old Debenhams store into a city campus.

The building in Gloucester is being turned into a campus for the Gloucestershire University's health and education departments.

Over 4000 students will one day study at the campus, and the site will also be home to a new city library.

"I think it's going to transform this part of the city," said Stephen Marston, vice chancellor of the University of Gloucestershire.

Eventually, the university's school of education will move to the campus too, but for now it is health and social care students who will start studying there in September next year.

"It was a great learning curve, but we still have a long way to go," said senior project manager Mr Lawley

"We will have about 4,000 students based here. It brings a whole new range of activity to the city," Mr Marston said.

The new build will cost about £50m and is being partly funded by government grants.

The University of Gloucestershire hopes the new building will bring students closer to the city centre

"I'm really excited. We are now at a point, after a lot of preparatory work, where we can see what an amazing building it is," Mr Marston said.

During building works, archaeological digs have unearthed part of a cemetery - complete with remains - belonging to two medieval churches.

The remains will be re-buried at cemeteries in Gloucester.

James Lawley, senior project manager at developer Morgan Sindall said the work had been an "amazing journey" so far.

"It was a great learning curve, but we still have a long way to go," he said.

The same company who made the original 1930s windows are putting the new ones in

The same company who made the original 1930s windows are putting the new ones back in the art deco part of the building.

However, most of the building has to be brought to modern standards, Mr Sindall said.

He said he expects the campus to be ready for students in September 2024.