More than two million litres of water were pumped into a newly-constructed swimming pool to make sure it was watertight.

Pools at Aberdeen Sports Village will offer world-class swimming and diving facilities, with underwater cameras to give playback of every move.

They are on track to open as part of a planned Aquatics Centre in early 2014 and the completion of the pool marks a major milestone in the construction process.

The water will be kept in the diving pool for a week to monitor any change in water levels – it will then be transferred to the 50 metre swimming pool to repeat the same process.

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Eddie Higgins of contractor GRAHAM Construction said: "We have poured over 1700 tonnes of reinforced concrete to create the diving pool alone. Filling the tank with water represents a real step forward for the project and demonstrates the pools are really starting to take shape. “Once the GRAHAM team has completed this water integrity work, we will start to put the steel structure in place, allowing the community to start seeing the Aquatics Centre really come to life."

When complete, the King Street site will host water-based sport for the public, with score-board technology and video replays.

It forms part of the Aberdeen Sports Village, a joint project between the University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen City Council and sportscotland.

GRAHAM Construction recently completed the refurbishment of the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh.

(NE)