Leeds City Council (LCC) has approved plans for a new centre of excellence for dance which will become the new home of the Northern Ballet Theatre (NBT) and the Phoenix Dance Theatre (PDT).

The new six-storey £12m centre will consist of seven dance studios, including a 200-seat studio theatre, as well as a health suite, a costume workshop and office space. It will also eventually house a full-time a classical dance school and Leeds Metropolitan University's dance degree houses in addition to NBT and PDT.

The Strategic Design Alliance, a partnership between LCC's in-house architectural consultancy and Jacobs Architecture, was behind the design of the site, which will be built next to the West Yorkshire Playhouse, the Leeds College of Music, and Yorkshire Dance. It is expected to open in summer 2010. LCC has committed £6.7m towards the centre, including a contribution from the government-funded Yorkshire Forward. Arts Council England (ACE), Yorkshire, has also invested £3.5m towards the project.

A fundraising campaign by NPT and PDT was launched in February to source the remaining £1.5m for the development, and has already raised £800,000 through donations from a number of trusts, foundations and individuals. Andy Carver, executive director at ACE, Yorkshire, said: "Two of the country's leading dance companies will have a state-of-the-art new home in Leeds, bringing great dance to many more people in Yorkshire and beyond."