Yorkshire County Cricket Club (LCCC) has been given the green light for plans to build an iconic new £20m pavilion at the Headingley Carnegie Cricket Ground in Leeds, West Yorkshire.

The 4,000sq m (43,056sq ft) building has been designed by the London-based architect, SMC Alsop, which will operate as a cricket pavilion during summer months, and as a teaching facility for Leeds Metropolitan University throughout the academic year. When complete, the pavilion will comply with the England and Wales Cricket Board's requirements for Test match venues, and will include a media centre, upgraded player changing and treatment rooms, and spectator seating.

New hospitality suites will also be created as part of the project, which, along with the media centre, have also been designed so that they are available for use outside major cricketing events for use as lecture theatres and teaching spaces. Stewart Regan, YCCC chief executive, said: "This development will go a long way towards helping the club retain international cricket here in Yorkshire.

"The Carnegie Pavilion, when completed, will become the single most-viewed building in Yorkshire, seen by some 500 million people on TV during international cricket events. We are confident it will become a landmark building for Leeds." Shaun Russell, SMC Alsop, said: "The Carnegie Pavilion has undoubtedly been a real challenge for our joint clients and the whole design team – an unusual dual-use building on a highly constrained site and surrounded by residential properties."

Work is expected to start on site in January, depending on demolition and the weather, and it is anticipated that the scheme will be completed in 2010.