Barnsley College is to carry out a £4million upgrade to its sports centre in the latest addition to its growing list of ambitious development projects.

The college has been successful in securing funding from the Skills Funding Agency's college capital investment fund to afford the multimillion pound upgrades to its sport and public services facilities.

It will receive £1.3million from the college capital investment fund to build an extension to the existing Sports Academy at the Honeywell campus and convert a former theatre building on that site into a sports hall, dance studio, gym and bistro. The remaining £2.7m investment needed will be raised by the college.

The changes will create eight new classrooms for sport and public services students and a new social space as well as the sports hall which will be open to the public. Work is planned to start early next year and be completed in the summer.

College principal, Colin Booth, said it could only mean good things for students.

"This is great news for our students and the local community who will be able to make use of the excellent new sports hall," he said.

"Our Sports Academy was named regional college of the year for Yorkshire and the Humber by British Colleges Sport earlier this year and the new facilities will serve to strengthen the already outstanding provision we offer."

The new sports facilities are one of many new building projects the college is currently working on to enhance learning facilities for students and the town as a whole. The Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) centre on Old Mill Lane is currently being developed, a new £17m sixth form college is planned to open on Shambles Street in 2015 and a new £10.8m construction centre will be built at the Honeywell campus, also opening in 2015.