The building company tasked with creating the £50 million state-of-the-art Bradford College development has been announced as Leeds-based BAM Construction.

They are the company behind projects such as the new NATO headquarters and the FIFA world cup final stadium in Johannesburg, Soccer City, and have promised to use as many local suppliers and sub-contractors as possible.

The Telegraph & Argus exclusively revealed in January that the College were going to press ahead with their multi-million pound transformation.

It is a scaled-down project which will house the Westbrook, McMillan, and Appleton buildings as well as the Old Building after a previous £120 million transformation plan was rejected by the Learning and Skills Council two years ago due to the funding body overcommitting itself to projects across the country.

The college, who is funding the project, revealed yesterday that 20 companies across Europe tendered bids, but declined to say whether any from Bradford applied.

Andy Welsh, the Vice Principal of Corporate Services, said that BAM were chosen following a “thorough procurement process and were selected against a series of selection criteria that included quality and cost”.

The project will see the main Westbrook Building demolished and an L-shape campus building constructed on the Great Horton Road site, with work set to be completed by 2014.

Mr Welsh added: “The project is likely to see 250 staff on site at any one time with up to 2,000 individuals going through the site gates. It is anticipated that other local opportunities will be created as a result of the increase in activity in the area.

“We expect to see a number of apprentices helping, and for several hundred opportunities for students to get involved.

“It is difficult to estimate the number of jobs that will be created locally, but both the College and BAM are committed to procuring locally where that is appropriate.

“We are delighted that Bradford College is playing its part in the regeneration of Bradford and kick-starting the local economy.”

Planning approval for the project was given by Bradford Council in May and work on the 23,000-square metre site will start this month.

Jason Pink, BAM Construction Project Manager, said: “With BAM’s strong track record of building in Bradford, especially in the education sector, it’s obviously a tremendous pleasure for us to be associated with such a major regenerative project.

“There is a huge amount of activity planned, not only with the construction of the new campus, but with the community around it.”