A CLOCKTOWER with only three sides - so dockers couldn’t wish their time away - is an iconic reminder of the mighty Middlehaven during the industrial revolution.

But the multi-million pound regeneration zone in Middlesbrough is now attracting workers, residents and students as well as new businesses including plans for an indoor ski centre which could create around 200 jobs.

Ambitious modern structures are now rubbing shoulders with historic landmarks on the 140 acre site which has attracted over £150m of investment with a further £62m committed.

The vacant Grade II Listed Captain Cook pub, named after the local legendary explorer is set to be transformed next to the Urban Pioneers project which will see 14 intrepid self-builders construct their own homes.

They will overlook a new urban park under the shadow of the Transporter Bridge which will link the ancient Custom House turned Myplace youth centre with the ground-breaking neurological rehabilitation unit, The Gateway together with the rapidly expanding Middlesbrough College and digital-industry office block at Boho 5, funded by the European Regional Development Fund and Homes and Communities Agency.

A £4.6m swing-bridge near the Anish Kapoor sculpture, Temenos, is destined to link the north and south sides of the River Tees which will improve access routes to a new £35 retail development as well as a potential indoor ski centre.

Elected mayor of Middlesbrough, Ray Mallon, is in talks with developers to utilise a patch of scrub land next to Middlesbrough college which would create the first of its kind in the in the North-East.

Charlotte Considine, major projects officer at Middlesbrough Council, said: “A winter sports centre would fit in well with what’s already here and due to the A66 road and rail links, it could be accessible to people from across the region.

“The old and the new fit in really well together at Middlehaven, historically the area has always been ambitious and its regeneration is certainly carrying on that legacy.”

Within three years of Middlesbrough dock’s official opened in 1842, the volume of coal shipped around the globe had increased from 370,180 to 505,486 tons.

However, to accommodate bigger vessels it was superseded by Teesport in 1966 and had closed by 1980.

Middlesbrough Football Club was the first new occupier to move onto the regeneration site when it relocated from Ayresome Park to the Riverside Stadium in 1995.