WINCHESTER'S outdoor sports centre is starting to become a reality as construction work gets underway.

The re-development of the University of Winchester's sports ground at Bar End is starting, after Sport England formally pledged £908,514 to complete the required funding.

The new facilities include an Olympic standard 400m eight-lane track, an all-weather hockey and general sports pitch, floodlighting and an extended pavilion.

The hope is that the facilities will be good enough to become a training base for a national squad before the 2012 London Olympics.

The facilities will be used by university students but also be available for schools, youth clubs and the local athletics and hockey club.

University vice-chancellor Joy Carter said: "I'm very pleased that we now have all the funding in place and work is starting on a project which will provide a step change in sports provision in Winchester.

"These marvellous facilities will benefit not just the university, but the local community which is expected to take up 90 per cent of bookings."

Cllr George Beckett, the leader of the city council, added: "The council has put £1 million into this project, recognising the benefits facilities such as these will bring to the community of Winchester and the wider district."

The green light for the project was given in March when the university gained planning permission for the re-development of its sports facilities at Bar End.

This is the second of two phases of the development of the Bar End sports grounds at a total cost of £3.3 million.

The first phase was the construction of the new pavilion, developing car parking, the entrance road and landscaping.

In addition to the £908,000 from Sport England, the university and city council have put in more than £1 million each, and Hampshire County Council gave the project £210,000.

It is hoped that a further £50,000 will be received from the SITA Trust (which distributes funding though the Government's Landfill Communities Fund) and Winchester Athletics Club has raised £22,000.

The new facilities are due for completion in early 2008 with the pavilion extension later in that year.