The building, estimated to cost $100 million, is on Crown land adjacent to NIB headquarters that was given

to the university last year by the NSW Government,

and announced by former Premier Nathan Rees during a visit to Newcastle in September.

Minister for the Hunter Jodi McKay will brief groups including Fix Our City at 12.30pm today, before a public

announcement at 2.30pm.

It is the first of what are expected to be a series of major announcements about the city centre between

now and the end of the year, and the strongest indication the NSW Government is ready to

implement the Newcastle City Centre Renewal

recommendations.

"You can't put the campus at Honeysuckle and leave it out there like a shag on a rock without implementing

the rest of the recommendations, including cutting the rail line,'' a well-placed source said

yesterday.

``This is an extremely significant step.''

The Herald was told NSW Premier Kristina Keneally

was ``sympathetic'' to Newcastle's cries for action

on the city centre, and her Government had a greater

focus on the needs of the

city.

Newcastle University Professor of Architectural Design Steffen Lehmann said he was pleased if expressions of interest were being called.

``If this is going ahead it will be a very good thing for

Newcastle, but only if the rest of the recommend

ations of the Newcastle City Centre Renewal report

are implemented,'' Professor Lehmann said.

``Otherwise we will just have more fragmentation.''