Construction company ISG has begun work on the £4.3m rowing centre at The Graham Sports Centre in Maiden Castle, which is owned by Durham University.

The centre is the main site for the university's sports teams and and ISG is set to develop existing rowing amenities, as well as refurbishing and extending the building to accommodate additional sporting facilities.

ISG will build two steel frame extensions onto the sports centre, one of which will house a state-of-the-art indoor rowing tank - one of only five such facilities in the UK.

Approximately 25m in length, the concrete rowing tank incorporates water pumps to simulate rowing conditions on a river and monitoring systems will enable real time information to be fed back to rowers to improve performance.

The new facility is set to become a key training resource for the highly successful University rowing teams and is potentially being lined up as a 2012 Olympics training facility.

The second extension will house new fencing facilities and an enlarged cardio room at first floor level as well as a café and relaxation areas on the ground floor.

ISG will also build a new steel frame boathouse with access to the River Wear. The boathouse will provide additional storage for the University's fleet of 'eights' and will also incorporate a workshop area.

The project is scheduled for completion in March 2011.

Dr Peter Warburton, Director of Sport at Durham University: "The tank will allow us to take the performance rowing programmes to a new level.

"In addition, it will revolutionise the participation programme for Durham students. Many students come to Durham having never rowed before. Allowing them access to train in the tank will offer an intermediate step before they get into the boat on the water, and offer a safe stepping stone to such a transition."