Andrew Denholm Education Correspondent PLANS for a £150m revamp of further education in Glasgow which would see four colleges moving to two purpose-built sites near the city centre are back on after months of turmoil.

The ambitious scheme, originally announced in June last year involving the Central College of Commerce, Glasgow Metropolitan College, Stow College and Glasgow College of Nautical Studies, hit problems when one of the partners threatened to pull out.

In October, the Nautical College raised concerns over plans to cut provision at its Thistle Street site as part of wider moves to prevent duplication across the four institutions. However, yesterday it was announced Nautical had agreed to rejoin the scheme, and the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) will now release £5m to allow architects plans to be drawn up.

John McClelland, chairman of SFC, said: "The development of the project has taken a lot of hard work, but with the support of everyone involved I am confident Glasgow will become home to the most exciting further education facility in the UK."

The stand-off was the latest in a series of controversies which have dogged the long-running project to modernise further education in Glasgow. The current plans fall short of original aspirations that all the institutions, which serve some 46,000 students and employ 2000 staff, would merge to form one supercollege.

The current college principals couldn't agree on such a merger, but in order to move ahead with the project and secure funding it was decided to build the new estate with the hope a full merger would happen in the future.

The latest plan was developed by the colleges and the funding council in consultation with Glasgow City Council, Scottish Enterprise Glasgow and the universities of Strathclyde and Glasgow Caledonian. The intention is to establish a fully-integrated learning area by 2012 with facilities and modern halls of residence at sites in Cathedral Street and Thistle Street. However, institutions will keep their separate identities.

A spokeswoman for the SFC said: "We have given in-principle approval of the full business case for the development of a Glasgow city centre campus to be shared by the colleges. This clears the way for the release of the first tranche of funding which will initially cover professional fees and means the project has passed its first major milestone."

The SFC will provide an in-principle grant of £150m for construction and loans over the first 25 years after its built.