ONE of Scotland's leading universities has unveiled a £300million estates plan that will transform its city centre campus by 2020.

By Andrew Denholm

ONE of Scotland's leading universities has unveiled a £300million estates plan that will transform its city centre campus by 2020.

The proposals by Strathclyde University in Glasgow will see four new buildings and the extensive refurbishment of others.

The student union building on John Street will be disposed of, while the university also plans to vacate several buildings currently leased from Glasgow City Council along George Street.

The proposals to cut the size of Strathclyde's estate by 40% will be funded by capital grants from the Scottish Funding Council, borrowing, money from the university's own income, and proceeds from the sell-off of land and existing buildings.

Strathclyde has already announced plans to sell off its Jordanhill site in the West End of Glasgow.

The current financial climate has forced a delay in the sale, but the university still intends to leave Jordanhill by 2012.

Academic staff and students have questioned the proposed sale of the union building without a like-for-like replacement, while others ask why the university is spending so much money on buildings when it is cutting up to 140 jobs.

The official student body is in talks with university authorities, but Fiona McPhail, co-ordinator of a students and staff group called the Anti-Cuts Action Net-work, said: "There's been no proper consultation."

Graham Roddick, the university's director of estates management, said: "Every penny we spend on utilities or maintenance in buildings we don't need is a penny less to spend on students and staff."

The Campus Vision 2020 will now go out to consultation.