The 600-seat main auditorium will be able to house 200 people seated or 400 people standing and includes drama and dance studios.

Doncaster Council and development partner Muse Developments are the clients for the £20m building, which forms an essential part of the town’s ongoing £300m civic and cultural quarter project.

Construction will start later this week to complete the venue in the spring of 2013.

Muse Developments projects director, Michael Broadhead, said: “The Civic Cultural Quarter is really taking shape.

“This next piece in the puzzle – the new performance venue – will put the culture into the quarter, attracting top-class performers and artists to Doncaster and providing public areas for visitors to enjoy.”

Keith Shivers, regional director at Vinci Construction UK, said the firm was “really excited” to be beginning work later this week.

Just over £2m of funding for the new performance venue has come as Lottery cash through Arts Council England.