A £10m redevelopment programme is due to turn Harpley Hall in Crook into a police control centre and specialist facility for fighting crime in County Durham.

Centrex, the Central Police Training and Development Authority, has acquired Harperley Hall and plans a major redevelopment over the next three years.

The plans feature 80 bedrooms, ten classrooms, specialist IT suites for imaging and fingerprint work, specialist teaching laboratory facilities and a practical training block to include scene modules, vehicle examination areas and a unique blood pattern analysis room with an observation gallery.

Work is due to start in March 2006 and scheduled for completion at the end of 2007.

Hilary Armstrong, Government Chief Whip and MP for North-West Durham, said: "I am delighted that Centrex has purchased Harperley Hall, which will provide a lasting and permanent home for the National Training Centre with world-class facilities. We in County Durham are immensely proud of the NTC and its contribution to the local economy."

Norman Bettison, Centrex chief executive, said: "The acquisition and redevelopment of Harperley Hall underlines Centrex's commitment to the North-East region. When completed, the site will provide a facility for specialist police training, which will benefit police forces nationally and globally."

Centrex has leased the Harperley Hall site since 2002 to deliver forensic training through its National Training Centre, but received approval to purchase the site from Durham Police Authority at the end of March.

The centre has established a national and international reputation for excellence.

Staff have recently been working in Botswana, Sierra Leone, Cyprus and Singapore, as well as assisting Sri Lanka and Thailand following the tsunami disaster.

On completion of the redevelopment, Centrex's other training facilities in the region - national fingerprint training at Aykley Heads and volume crime training at Spennymoor - will also be delivered at Harperley Hall.