Speedo's high-tech Aqualab, which has developed the world-beating and controversial swimsuits used by Adlington and Michael Phelps, will move to the new building on the ng2 Business Park in the East Midlands city.

The building will house all of Speedo's 170 staff, have 43,000 sq ft of space and is due for completion at the end of 2010.

It will be the international base for the Speedo brand and its visiting sponsored athletes.

Speedo President David Robinson said: "It will be a fitting home for our R&D (Research & Development) centre, Aqualab, which continues to ensure Speedo remains at the forefront of swim technology."

Featuring a full-height glass atrium foyer and a striking zinc-clad wall bearing a giant Speedo logo, the architecture of the building includes solar-control glazed windows, intelligent lighting with movement and daylight sensors and energy saving air-source heat-pump technology.

Robinson said: "The quality of the new building along with its centrally located site will help us to attract and retain the highest-calibre staff."

Speedo was actually founded in Australia in 1914 by Scottish immigrant Alexander MacRae but has been based in Nottingham for more than 50 years.

The company claims that 70 per cent of Olympic medallists at the Beijing Games last year wore Speedo equipment, including Phelps and Adlington.

 Much of that success was based upon the LZR Racer suit, which was made of a new high-technology swimwear fabric they call LZR Pulse fabric and composed of a light weight woven fabric with polyurethane panels to reduce drag.

The suit developed in association with NASA and has revolutionised the sport, sparking a new high-tech war among swimwear manufacturers which many experts believe is now out of control.

An amazing 182 world records have been been broken by swimmers wearing a LZR Racer since it was introduced in January 2008, including by Adlington (pictured), who in Beijing broke Janet Evans' 19-year-old best for the 800 metres freestyle wearing one of the suits.

The deal is believed to be the biggest deal ofkind in the East Midlands this year and has been lauded as a coup for the entire region by Jeff Moore, the chief executive of the East Midlands Development Agency.

He said: "I am absolutely delighted Speedo is securing its base in the East Midlands.

"Its presence will help secure hundreds of jobs through the supply chain and facilities used to develop new products such as the LZR Racer swimsuit as worn by Rebecca Adlington."