The University of Bradford will have spent up to £40 million by September next year on capital projects brought forward as part of a recession-busting scheme to boost the district’s economy.

The university announced in May last year that it had brought forward several projects following a request from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and work is well under way on them.

Professor Geoff Layer, deputy vice-chancellor at the university, said: “We said we will have a go because you have got to be very careful as you can’t do some things while the students are here.

“But what we have managed to do is bring forward that capital expenditure and invest in those buildings in the way we have, which is all about creating a better learning and working experience.”

The plans have included a new £9 million School of Health Studies building at the campus to replace the existing centre at St Luke’s Hospital, a £1 million re-development of the JB Priestley library and a £7.75 million redevelopment of the Student Central building.

A further £4.5 million has been spent on a new heat and power system and work has been completed on the £5.7 million refurbishment of teaching accommodation in the Richmond Building and the Chesham Building on the campus.

A further £35 million is to be spent on the Sustainable Student Village, in the Listerhills area of the city, which has been funded by Mi7 Developments, regional development agency Yorkshire Forward and the university.

Professor Layer said the university had used local contractors as much as possible.

He said the university’s money had come from traditional sources, such as student fees and knowledge transfer, as well as capital grants from HEFCE and a small amount of borrowing.

He said: “We were lucky because we brought forward those grants. If we hadn’t brought them forward we would have lost them – capital grants have now been removed.”

Professor Layer said the decision to invest the money in buildings was aimed at improving the learning and working experience of students and staff.

He said: “You can see things going up in the inner city. We have got cranes on campus building things. It’s quite a big benefit to Bradford city centre as well as our students and staff.

“Student fees went up, so they should get better facilities and a better learning environment.”