YORK College is to be rebuilt and replaced with a multimillion-pound new development, the Evening Press can reveal today.

College principal Mike Galloway said the new-look college would be housed in a state-of-the-art building.

He said the new college would be situated either on one of its existing two sites in Tadcaster Road or in a new location somewhere else in the city.

Several possible locations across the city are to be examined by consultants, including land on Leeman Road behind York Railway Station.

Mr Galloway said the rebuild was part of a strategy for the next ten to 15 years. Building work would not start for at least three years.

One option for funding the new college would be to sell either one or both of the current sites.

The college is nearing the end of its first year as a merged college, following the joining of the former sixth form and further and higher education colleges.

The past year has seen 45 people take voluntary redundancy after protracted negotiations with both unions on both sites and the appointment of 25 new "learning assistants".

Mr Galloway said the college's budget was now balanced and he felt relationships with the unions had improved.

He said college governors had decided on a total rebuild after a feasibility study by consultants Drivers Jonas.

It had now set on more external consultants to look at what the college should look for when choosing its preferred location.

He said: "The consultants are talking to staff about what they're going to do and asking what they would like to see in the long term and the staff have been very enthusiastic.

"We want to build in the maximum flexibility to cater for changes in the way people learn.

"This is a real opportunity for us to do something very special - we need to have a state-of-the-art building for the future. We could use modern materials and make it an energy efficient building.

"ICT has changed things and we need to think differently - we need to have more flexibility - people might be learning from home more.

"One of the obstacles for people who have had a bad experience of school in the past in coming back to college is walking through the doors - I'd like to soften the boundaries and see the college going out more, even into shops, pubs and clubs."

The consultants are expected to present their findings to governors in December and the next stage will be to bring in architects to start on plans.