Work will start next month on the new £17.8m building which will house the School of Law, Politics and Sociology and the School of Business, Management and Economics.
The new building will cover 8000m² and will feature a number of sustainable technologies including a sedum roof and rainwater harvesting.
Morgan Sindall will be employing 50 local companies to work on the project with up to 200 construction workers on site at the project’s peak.
Richard Watts, Morgan Sindall area director, said: “This is our ninth project at the University of Sussex, having recently completed a new teaching block also at the Falmer campus.
“The higher education market is presenting a number of opportunities for us and as always we will be working with as many local subcontractors on this scheme as possible to ensure the benefits of the project are felt locally.”
The building is due for completion in April 2012.