Oxford Brookes University will today launch a fundraising campaign for a £1m centre for rowing to help prepare its athletes for the 2012 Olympics.

The team, which has produced four Olympic gold medallists since 2000, has won planning permission for a new training base on the River Thames at Cholsey, near Wallingford.

But it needs to raise funds so it can hit its target of finishing the centre within the next 12 months.

Olympic gold medallist Steve Williams, based at Henley’s Leander Club, and university head coach Richard Spratley will be at today’s launch to talk about the new building and Oxford Brookes’s role in preparations for the London games.

Mr Spratley said it was “crucial” crews have world-class facilities.

He said: “Oxford Brookes has produced some of the best rowers in the world who have won medals at Olympic and World Championship competitions stretching back a decade now.

“The centre is a really important next step for the rowers and coaches here as the building will mean our athletes have the best facilities available with every chance of getting into the Great Britain team.”

Visitors to the event will be able to speak to rowers, learn about the fundraising campaign and discover Oxford Brookes is building partnerships to get children from Oxfordshire into the sport.

The centre will be based off the A329, about one mile from Cholsey.

University spokesman Ed Reed said: “Oxford Brookes University Boat Club is the most powerful undergraduate rowing team in the UK and a feeder squad for Team GB’s Olympic crews.

“Completing the centre within the next year will allow the squad as much use of the new facilities as possible before the London Olympics in 2012.

“The training base brings vital facilities under one roof and provides the capacity for athletes to realise international success.”

The event takes place at the university’s Centre for Sport, on the Gipsy Lane Campus in Headington, from 12.30pm to 1.30pm. All visitors are welcome.

dhearn@oxfordmail.co.uk