The University of Huddersfield plans to create a new lab specifically geared towards A-level science teaching as part of a new £18.2 million science block it is building. It says it is the first time a UK university has created a lab for this purpose.

Equipment within the ‘super lab’ will be available to schools and colleges within a 60-mile radius of Huddersfield, allowing A-level and BTEC students to carry out more advanced practical work.

‘They will have access to, for example, polymerase chain reaction machines, so they will be able to analyse DNA and will be able to carry out microbiological techniques and equipment that schools are generally unable to provide. Chemistry students will be able to do a lot more chromatography, synthesis and reactions,’ said Jane Owen-Lynch, the university’s dean of applied sciences.

The new four-storey block will also contain labs for undergraduate students in chemistry, biology, forensics and geography. It is due to be completed in July 2019.