At least 400 jobs are to be created in Co Down with the development of a €43 million hotel and leisure complex, it was promised today.
The old Gilford Mill is to be redeveloped into a 132 bedroom four-star hotel by Northern Ireland company GML Estates, part of the Channel Islands-based Orana Group.
As well as the six-storey hotel in the historic mill, there will also be a state-of-the-art conference centre, health spa, shops, art gallery and sculpture park.
Planning permission has been granted for the scheme which is planned to opened during 2007, said GML.
The developers said they were in talks with a well-known, international hotels operator to run the hotel.
Although the hotel and conference centre will be the main commercial aspect of the site, Banbridge District Council plan to establish the Gilford Complex as a destination in its own right, and market it to potential local and regional visitors, as well as international tourists.
The hotel restaurant, lounge and bar, as well as a health club and pool will be open to the public.
Combined with the art gallery, sculpture park, shops and 33 acres of landscaped parkland, the complex will have enough leisure activities to become a day out destination, said the developers.