A new £17m Belfast arts centre is set to create hundreds of local construction jobs, it has been revealed.

Touted as one the most significant urban regeneration projects planned for the city's Cathedral Quarter, it is believed the MAC will be an incubator creating hundreds of new job opportunities in the construction and entertainments industry.

Work is due to begin within the next two months at St Anne's Square, in a project backed by the Department of Culture Arts and Leisure and the Arts Council for Northern Ireland.

MAC chairman Joris Minne said while the centre's primary purpose is to provide an international-class arts facility, it will also act as a centre of excellence and learning for people who want to train for various aspects of the entertainment industry.

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"What people don’t often realise are the job prospects in the creative industries and the entertainment industry. These are sectors which recruit people who have developed creatively as musicians, dramatists and artists but also as sound technicians, lighting specialists, designers, directors and producers," said Mr Minne.

The MAC, which is due to open in 2011, will be six storeys high and will house two theatres - one small and one mid-size – three visual art galleries, a dance studio, education, workshop and rehearsal spaces, offices for resident arts groups and a café and bar.

"Since its inception in 1989, the Old Museum Arts centre has been a centre of creative excellence as well as a bridge between the creative sector and the wider community. The MAC will be six times bigger," said the chairman.

(PR/JM)