THE plans for land surrounding Middlesbrough's Riverside Stadium have been unveiled at an architectural exhibition in Venice.

Plans by Alsop Architects for the Middlehaven development are being shown at the Venice Biennale International Architecture Exhibition.

Commissioned by urban regeneration company Tees Valley Regeneration, the scheme will transform the town's 250-acre Middlehaven area.

The development, which represents a combined public and private sector investment of £500m, includes office blocks, apartments, hotels, leisure outlets and adventure sporting attractions that are expected to create jobs and boost the local economy.

Last week, Middlesbrough Mayor Ray Mallon showed a delegation from one of the world's largest development companies, Dubai-based Emaar, around the site.

He showed the delegation Alsop's award-winning plans for the development, which include a primary school in the shape of a spelling block, a Rubik's cube cinema, a ten-storey office block nicknamed Marge Simpson's hair and apartment blocks inspired by Prada skirts.

Will Alsop, of Alsop Architects, said: "When we arrived in the Tees Valley, we knew very little about the region, except that it had provided the inspiration for Ridley Scott's Blade Runner film. What we found was a brave, beautiful landscape inhabited by a series of massive objects.

"The Transporter Bridge and Riverside Stadium were taken as markers of scale and grandeur but now, next to the wide expanse of the River Tees, will sit a new generation of icons."