The new Aquatics Centre at Aberdeen Sports Village has reached the next phase of construction, with the arrival of its Olympic standard diving boards.

The 40 tonne 3, 5, 7.5 and 10 metre boards arrived at the new facility, which includes a 10 lane 50 metre pool and a 25 metre pool with full elite diving facilities.

The development is now on schedule for opening in early 2014.

David Beattie, chief executive at Aberdeen Sports Village said: "The arrival of the boards marks a significant development to the interior of the building and highlights the progress being made at the Centre.

"At Aberdeen Sports Village, we are dedicated to ensuring everyone is free to enjoy sport at every level, so we are thrilled to be able to provide a facility that will offer high quality swimming and diving facilities to both members of the local community and top quality athletes.

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"The boards will mean everyone from world-class divers, training for future Olympics and Commonwealth events, to children from local schools learning to dive for the first time will be able to use and benefit from the facilities.

"The Aquatics Centre will be one of only two Olympic standard facilities in Scotland, making it a real asset to the people of Aberdeen and the North east."

Main contractor Graham Construction is leading the building of the £22m project.

Eddie Higgins, project manager at Graham Construction, said: "The design, manufacture, delivery and installation of the diving boards proved a real challenge and required special heavy haulage vehicles for each individual board, and a 500 tonne crane to install the platforms.

"After successfully completing the integrity testing of the pool, erecting the steelworks and now having the diving boards on site in only six months, we are on schedule for the next phase which is to ensure the building is wind and water tight.

"Once this is complete by early April, the public will really start to get a sense of how the finished Aquatics Centre will look."

The Aquatics Centre is a joint project between the University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen City Council and sportscotland.

(IT)