Southampton City Council (SCC) has confirmed that construction work can now start on the new £15m Sea City Museum after final planning permission was approved.

The council has appointed Kier Southern - part of the Kier Group - to build the Wilkinson Eyre Architects-designed museum, which is due to open in April 2012. Housed within the city's Grade II*-listed former Magistrates' Court adjoining the Civic Centre, the Sea City Museum is to form part of wider Cultural Quarter development.

Two permanent galleries will examine Southampton's status as a 'Gateway to the World' in the last 2,000 years and its relationship with the ill-fated liner RMS Titanic, which claimed 549 local lives. The Heritage Lottery Fund has already contributed £4.6m towards the museum scheme, which has also involved Davis Langdon and Urban Salon.

A SCC spokesperson said: "Sea City Museum is a central piece of the new Cultural Quarter in Southampton and is set to complete in April 2012 - 100 years since the Titanic left Southampton."