A huge building development in North Belfast is set to make a major impact on a previously blighted area.

The innovative £200m plan aims to redevelop not only what is now one of the city’s most disadvantaged areas, but one that also incorporates architecturally and historically unique properties.

The government plans to transform a 27-acre site incorporating the Victorian Crumlin Road Prision and adjacent, now unoccupied, Girdwood Army Barracks into one of the city's most vibrant spots.

As Belfast’s hospitality trade expands, parts of the ambitious plans include the construction of an hotel in the infamous Crumlin Road Prison – allowing guests a very special experience – and one formerly ‘enjoyed’ by some of Northern Ireland's most notorious inmates.

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The building is currently undergoing a £1m facelift, with improvements undertaken already including restoring the facade to its original 1845 appearance.

Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie said there was also considerable potential for leisure, health, education and housing.

"There is no doubt that the redevelopment of this site offers a once in a lifetime opportunity for physical, social and economic regeneration for the benefit of the entire local community and the wider city," she said.

"If we are successful then this site, at one time, one of the most isolated and uninviting in Northern Ireland, can become one of Belfast's most vibrant and attractive places."

A period of public consultation will end on 22 January 2008.

(BMcC)