Plans for Oxford's new £9m diabetes centre have been unveiled.

The state-of-the-art building will be built at the Churchill Hospital, in Headington. Details were revealed yesterday to coincide with World Diabetes Day.

The Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism (OCDEM) will combine clinical work with teaching and research.

It is expected to be built by early 2002 and has been part-funded by pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, one of Europe's largest insulin manufacturers, which has donated 4m towards the project.

Currently, the centre is based among the cramped corridors of the Radcliffe Infirmary, where consultants have six beds allocated to them on the hospital's wards.

The modern building which will cover 5,000 sq ft will have a special 26-bed ward and large outpatient department with an airy waiting room in the unit's central atrium.

It has been designed by architects Sheppard Robson, who designed the modern Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, in London.

OCDEM chairman Dr David Matthews said: "Clinical care is the priority with the new centre and meeting the needs of the patients is at the top of the list. We have set up a patient involvement group to ensure the needs of patients and staff are met."

Oxford University researchers are also involved with the development of the building, which will house laboratories for research into diabetes and related illnesses.

The condition means patients cannot make their own insulin a protein which breaks down sugar in the body. More than 12,000 people in Oxford suffer from diabetes, which can affect the eyes, kidneys, heart and feet.

OCDEM is just one of the buildings which will be built at the Churchill and John Radcliffe during the next few years as the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust gets ready to relocate services from the RI, in the city centre.