PITTSBURGH — A new four-year medical school campus is coming to Pittsburgh’s North Side.

Temple University School of Medicine and West Penn Allegheny Health System announced the project Friday and said that 30 students will be accepted in the first class, scheduled to begin in 2013.

Classes will be held at existing buildings on Pittsburgh’s North Side near Allegheny General Hospital, Temple and the PAHS said. The hospital will also provide the primary clinical education environment, to keep the costs of establishing the new campus to a minimum. Renovations will be done to accommodate the school, including construction of state-of-the-art classrooms and laboratories, investment in advanced training technology and refurbishing of some common student areas.

The school is expected to help the critical shortage of physicians in Western Pennsylvania by educating and retaining doctors to serve the local community.