A new multi-million pound concert hall is set to be built at the University of Birmingham (UB) to provide a new home for the institution's music department and facilities for the local community.

Plans for the venue have been drawn up by Glenn Howells Architects to include a 450-seat auditorium designed to accommodate a range of performances – from solo voice to electro-acoustic – as well as associated research, teaching and rehearsal facilities. The project will include the creation of a new suite of music rooms for the Centre of Early Music Performance and Research, which will provide temperature and humidity-controlled spaces for the university's collection of original and reproduction instruments dating back to the Middle Ages.

A public fundraising campaign will be launched in the autumn in a bid to reach a target of £5m. £3.6m has already been raised through contributions from university alumni and supporters of the concert hall scheme. Professor John Whiteham, head of UB's music department, said: "The auditorium will provide a wonderful space in which the university's rehearsals and concerts can take place. It will be unique in Birmingham in its size, adaptability and audience capacity, and will provide facilities from which not only the university but also local community users can benefit."

Image: Glenn Howells Architects