PLANS to build a cinema, apartments, offices, bars and restaurants at the heart of Durham will go on show later this month (Wednesday, February 17).

The consortium behind a £150m scheme to redevelop the Milburngate House site, for many years home to the 1960s office block housing the Passport Office and National Savings and Investments (NS&I), will hold a public exhibition at the nearby Radisson Blu Hotel on Wednesday, February 17, from noon to 7pm.

Under the proposals, the nine-storey Milburngate House would be demolished and replaced with a new mixed-use development including a multi-screen cinema run by The Everyman Group.

It has been repeatedly suggested Durham County Council, which intends to leave its 1960s-built County Hall, could move its city base onto the site.

The consortium includes Carillion, Arlington Real Estate and Richardsons Capital LLP and is the same group that is redeveloping the former Durham Wasps ice rink site on the opposite side of the River Wear as a £27m offices scheme.

Allan Cook, managing director of Arlington Real Estate, said: “The constructive, positive feedback we have already received from the people of Durham has been a very important part of the development of our ideas for Milburngate.

“This exhibition will enable visitors to see how our proposals have evolved and offer their views to help us deliver the North of England’s newest and most significant waterside regeneration project.”

A planning application is expected in March. The whole project could take eight years to complete. For further details, visit durhamriversiderenewal.co.uk