Temporary classrooms at Colchester Institute will be replaced with a four-storey teaching block.

Planning permission has been granted for a south wing at the institute campus in Sheepen Road, Colchester.

The project was launched earlier this year when the Skills Funding Agency agreed a £7million grant towards the £9.5million cost. The planning approval gives three years for the development to start, but it is hoped the block will be completed in time for the start of the next academic year in September 2015.

The remaining £2.5million cost will be paid for by the college, which has 9,000 students.

In 2008, an £85million rebuild of the college was scrapped mid-project, leaving parts of the campus, including the site of the new block, a building site.

The south wing will include classrooms, IT suites, staff offices and eight large workshops. When complete, the last of the temporary classrooms on the campus will be removed.