Work on a new £60 million science and research park next to a Birmingham hospital is set to start in 2007.
Birmingham Heartlands Hospital has also appointed a city-based design and land planning firm, Lovejoys, to plan the development.
The 'medipark' will feature a Medical Innovation Development and Research Unit, which will include dedicated areas for clinical studies, laboratories and medical device trials.
It is expected that more than 250 projects a year will be conducted within the unit, in areas such as diabetes, vascular medicine, diagnosis and treatment of cancer and respiratory medicine.
Heartlands, which is part of Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, is working in partnership with Birmingham City Council and Aston Science Park on the scheme.
It will be built on a 20-acre site next to Heartlands on land behind Belchers Lane, Bordesley Green East, and Yardley Green Road.
The trust was granted planning permission in 2004 for the development, which is the first public-private scheme of its kind in the UK.
Lovejoys will now take the project forward to the master planning of the site.
Mark Goldman, the trust's chief executive, said: "This new centre of excellence in medical research is the first in the UK to be situated on a hospital site, offering experts direct access to a live trial environment."
