£50m college plans move forward

About 20,000 students attend Forth Valley College

An Edinburgh-based firm has been chosen to design two new campuses at Stirling and Alloa for Forth Valley College.

Reiach and Hall will also oversee improvements to the college's campus in Falkirk.

More than £50m is to be spent transforming the college following one of the biggest payouts by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC).

The project will begin with work on a new campus at Hawkhill in Alloa in 2010 and will continue until 2013.

Forth Valley College principal Linda McKay said: "Reiach and Hall prepared some early models of the proposed new campuses at Alloa and Stirling as part of bidding for the contract.

"Now that the appointment has been made, the firm will set about developing more detailed models to make our ideas become a reality and we will share them with local people as soon as we can."

Andy Law, Reiach and Hall project director, added: "The combination of the brief and the sites allocated provides opportunities for exciting buildings which will contribute significantly both to the college and to the communities in which they will stand."

Forth Valley College currently has more than 20,000 students and 600 staff, and offers about 750 courses at campuses across the Forth Valley.