THE design for Bangor University’s £35 million arts and innovation centre has been unveiled.
The Pontio project will create 450 permanent jobs at the 550-seat cinema, theatre and bar complex.
Project leader and University Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Fergus Lowe said that the project would help revive the city’s struggling economy.
He added: “It will provide a centre of such remarkable innovation and artistic excellence that it is sure to draw the attention of people from near and far, as well as providing new impetus to the growth of the north Wales economy."
The centre, which received £15 million of Welsh Assembly funding, will include a cinema, a studio theatre, and an outdoor amphitheatre.
There also be bars, dining areas and parkland.
It is hoped that the Innovation Hub will become a leading centre for quality skills that will generate new technologies for businesses in areas as diverse as digital technologies, environmental goods and services, bioscience and advanced software.
It is expected to create around 450 jobs during construction and a further 450 permanent jobs when the building is completed in 2012.
The Pontio scheme was established by Bangor University to strengthen links between the university and the wider community.
Councillor Dewi Llywelyn, of Deniol ward said that he was glad that the plans were seeing the light of after the curtain fell on Theatr Gwynedd in October 2008.
He said: “I’m not so sure about the building architecturally but there will be plenty of exciting productions and it will put Bangor on the map.
“It could be a way of reviving Bangor as a city by encouraging people to spend money on the high street and encourage businesses to reopen the empty units.”
However, Cllr Llywelyn added that high volumes of traffic would have to be investigated to avoid problems when the centre opens.