TIME is everything in the pressurised world of construction, but even more so when it comes to York-based Shepherd Construction's £10 million Welsh National Pool project in Swansea.

Everything stopped for David Roberts, paralympic swimming champion from Pontypridd, so that he could bury a special time capsule.

The swimming star who won seven medals in the Sydney Olympics sealed and buried the cylinder with the help of local schoolboy Dean Charles, for whom this was a competition prize.

Inside the capsule was an up-to-date newspaper, a Harry Potter book, a mobile phone and David's signed Sydney 2000 paralympic shirt all of which will be unearthed in 25 years.

Shepherd is in the seventh month of its construction phase of the 50-metre pool which will be mostly funded by the Sports Council of Wales through £8 million of lottery funding and managed by the city and county council of Swansea and the University of Wales which have both injected £1 million into the project.

Pictured: From left, David Sellers, deputy managing director for Shepherd Construction, Jenny Randerson, National Assembly for Wales Minister for Sport, Gareth Davies, chairman of the Welsh sports council, and David Roberts, Paralympic champion, with the time capsule buried at the new national pool in Swansea, Wales

Updated: 08:56 Tuesday, January 15, 2002