WORK will begin this month on a £60m scheme to transform Oxford University's Iffley Road site into a "globally competitive" sports centre.

The initial phase will see an £8.5m indoor sports hall built next to the iconic running track where Sir Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile in 1954.

The Oxford Mail has learned it could also become the first such facility in the UK to include a "smart floor" that would light up with the different line layouts needed for various sports.

A source familiar with the situation said the option was being considered due to a requirement to provide for 13 indoor sports within the hall.

The new sports hall would add to the existing gym and swimming pool already at the site, used by some 3,200 staff and students of the university and 600 members of the public.

The university initially hoped to begin work by the end of 2015 but has only now secured the donations necessary to begin.

It must still raise a further £250,000 but officials are understood to be "confident" this will not pose a problem.

Professor William James, pro vice-chancellor for planning, said: "This is a very exciting project and our hope is it will be ready for the start of the 2017 academic year.

"I think everyone recognises the university's indoor sports facilities, when compared to our competitors, have been a bit of an embarrassment and this first phase marks an important turnaround of that situation.

"By the end of the scheme, we will have a globally competitive sports centre that we can all be proud of."

Attached to the existing Rosenblatt Swimming Pool, the new building will have a four-badminton-court sports hall, a multi-purpose gym and extra changing rooms for men and women.

A source suggested a so-called 'smart floor' was being considered for the hall. The device would allow users to change its LED-illuminated line markings with the touch of a button.

A similar product has been designed by a German firm, ASB Glassfloor, which says on its Facebook page that it was visited by an Oxford University delegation.

It was announced last year that the new building would be named after Dr Acer Nethercott, the Beijing Olympics silver medallist and Oxford graduate who coxed the university to victory in the boat race three times. He died aged 35 in 2012 due to a brain tumour.

The university also plans to build an indoor tennis centre, rugby and rowing training centre, grandstand and indoor cricket academy at its Iffley Road site, as well as an eight-badminton-court sports hall with squash facilities.

It secured planning approval for the over scheme in 2012, gaining detailed approval for the first phase from Oxford City Council in July 2015.

Prof James said the first phase of the project also required the relocation of a number of badger sets.

This could have proved problematic but Christ Church, which owns neighbouring land, has agreed to host the short-legged omnivores instead, he added.