A building at the heart of Huddersfield University’s Queensgate campus is undergoing a £6.7m refit.

Work is underway to extend and refurbish the Joseph Priestley Building to provide improved facilities for undergraduate and postgraduate students in the School of Applied Sciences.

The scheme includes remodelling the ground, first and second floors of the building, constructing a new four-storey extension to include a new entrance, atrium and staircase and over-cladding the public-facing frontage with metal feature cladding.

The project should be finished by November.

The main contractor is the Yorkshire office of Manchester-based Bardsley Construction which is working with Huddersfield architects AHR on the scheme.

The scheme follows the official opening last week of the Oastler Building by the Duke of York , who is chancellor of the university. The six-storey building overlooking Shorehead roundabout is home to the Law School and School of Music, Humanities and Media.

Colin Blair, director or estates and facilities at the university, said he was excited by what he describes as “the latest ambitious refurbishment of the existing campus fabric, which underpins an exciting academic strategy.”

He added: “In recent years our campus transformation programme has concentrated on new structures, such as the recently-opened, £28m Oastler Building. We have some major new-build projects in the pipeline as part of a 15-year, £260m programme of investment.

Artists impression of the new Joseph Priestley building at Huddersfield University

“But we have also had great success with refashioning existing structures, such as the award-winning canalside buildings.

“The Joseph Priestley overhaul is an important part of this strand and by the time it is completed we will effectively have an exciting new building on the campus, without losing the integrity of the existing structure.

“The university prides itself in working with local contractors and welcomes working with Bardsley (Yorkshire) on this important phase of transforming the existing Queensgate campus to deliver an inspirational teaching and learning environment for students and researchers to work collaboratively.”

Rick Smeaton, Bardsley regional manager in Yorkshire, said the Joseph Priestley Building contract was the firm’s first major project for the university and provided “an ideal opportunity to enhance our well-earned reputation for the delivery of high quality and bespoke educational facilities.”

The company has completed several multi-million pound educational projects, including a student accommodation scheme at Hannah Court in Sheffield, a primary school at the Halifax Academy, a three-storey West Yorkshire History Centre for Wakefield Council and a three-storey Advanced Skills &a Innovation Centre for Wakefield College.