Brighton and Hove Albion bosses have held workshops with the three contractors competing for the rights to build the £50 million stadium at Falmer.

Three major contractors have been invited to submit detailed "design and build" tender documents to the club.

The contractors all attended meetings at the club last week, but an announcement on the decision will not be made until September.

Albion chief executive Martin Perry, who is leading the 30-strong stadium project team, said: "We have been continuing work on all fronts.

"Some of the most interesting meetings were with the contractors who are bidding for the scheme and came to individual workshops to ask detailed questions seeking clarity about the project.

"They came with very large teams and it is exciting to see the people who we might be working with in the very near future as they begin to plan how to turn our vision into reality."

One of the contractors competing for the project is the Buckingham Group, which built the impressive 22,000-seat MK Dons stadium in Milton Keynes and an extension at Manchester United's Old Trafford ground.

The two other companies bidding for the contract have also both had experience of building stadia in England.

Construction workers are expected to begin work on the £50million project in December.

The club hopes to kick off the 2010/11 season in the 22,500-seat arena.

Communities Secretary Hazel Blears finally approved plans for the Falmer stadium in July last year.

She was the third minister to oversee the planning application, which became the longest ever endured by a British football club.