A multi-million pound centre for sports and health is to be built by Strathclyde University, benefiting staff, students and graduates.

It will feature research, teaching and recreational facilities, including a 25-metre swimming pool, squash courts and treatment rooms, and should be open by 2011, in time for the run-up to the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Situated on Cathedral Street, in Glasgow’s city centre, it will provide a new base for sports and physical activity-focused teaching and research staff from the education faculty. It will also be open to the wider community and should be completed at the same time as the new education faculty building on nearby George Street.

Strathclyde University is one of five UK universities - a consortium known as the Brunel ICSEMIS 2012 Consortium - chosen to host an international sports and sports science conference in the run-up to the Olympic Games. The event will be held in Glasgow.