WORK has started on a building that will house the region's first super scanner.

The £1.8m magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner will operate from Newcastle University Centre for Magnetic Resonance Studies, which opens next year.

A two-storey building to accommodate the scanner is being built on the site of the former blood transfusion centre and X-ray store in the grounds of Newcastle General Hospital.

Inside, there will be two scanner halls, associated facilities and offices. One scanner will be ready for use by researchers and patients when the centre opens.

It will mean patients will not need to travel outside the North-East to get advanced diagnostic scans.

The super scanner is twice the strength of other hospital MRI scanners.

It can investigate common health conditions such as diabetes and dementia in incredible detail. It will also be useful for researchers studying cancer and conditions affecting the heart and liver.

The £5m centre should help to attract additional research funding for studies into health conditions, enticing more world-class researchers to the North East.

Funding for the project has come from the regional development agency, One NorthEast, The Northern Rock Foundation, The Newcastle Healthcare Charity, a patient donation, the Government, The Cookson Trust and the Barclay Foundation.

MRI scanners work by using a strong magnetic field to align some of the body's atoms and bouncing radio waves off them to give a picture of the tissues. It avoids the radiation risks of X-rays.

A typical scanner is doughnut-shaped and about the size of a small van.

Prof Roy Taylor, director of the new centre, said: "This scanner allows us to look at major organs in the body in great detail, which should help us to achieve a deeper understanding of global health problems like Type 2 diabetes and dementia, and could lead to important breakthroughs in treatments for these diseases."

David Allison, director of business and industry, One NorthEast, which has approved £1m of funding for the project, said: "North-East England is now recognised as a global leader in the field of scientific research."