The University of Birmingham has unveiled the latest phase of its £300 million campus expansion with plans for new science and technology facilities.

The institute is planning to construct a new building called 'Central Teaching Labs' which will have five separate teaching and work areas focussed on fields such as chemistry, electronics and virtual teaching.

To be housed next to its existing Murray Learning Centre and Biosciences Building at the West Gate entrance, its aim is to bring together the university's science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields into a shared facility on the campus in Edgbaston.

Central Teaching Labs will cover 72,120 sq ft over three storeys and have parking for 22 cars and 27 bikes, according to newly submitted planning documents.

Part of the site is currently being used as a temporary car park for staff with demolition of the Chemistry West building required to make way for the new facility.

The project has been designed by the Manchester office of architecture practice Sheppard Robson which said in a design statement: "The core objective is to provide a facility which will enable interdisciplinary working within five core spaces - wet laboratory, dry laboratory, e-laboratory, discovery laboratory co-shared with collaboration space.

"Following an announcement within the 2014 Budget for £200 million to be made available to higher education institutions seeking to improve innovation within STEM subjects and increase their appeal to prospective students, the University of Birmingham initiated a bid to secure funding for a new science facility.

"Following an award of £5 million, it embarked on ambitious plans to relocate all 14 undergraduate STEM subjects from existing campus facilities to a purpose-built facility which would foster interdisciplinary collaboration between the subject groupings."

The application site, which is close to the university's train station and Munrow Sports Centre, was historically used for commercial agricultural purposes until the mid-20th century when the university's campus started to expand.

The wider campus regeneration has been under way for several years now and will eventually see a new 50-metre swimming pool, library, halls of residence and hotel and conference centre developed.

Another CGI of the new science labs
Another CGI of the new science labs