The £30m scheme will deliver leisure facilities, a hotel and new shops. Interserve will manage the project on behalf of DTZIM.
The old department store, sold by the Co-operative Group to DTZIM, will be refurbished by Interserve to provide retail and leisure units on the ground and basement floors. Premier Inn will operate a 184-bed hotel at the site.
The construction contract is worth £17m and work is expected to be complete by December 2015.
The Grade II listed art deco building extends to nearly 170,000 sq ft over six floors and dates back to the 1930s. The sale also includes an adjoining car park and Chinese restaurant.
“The collaborative approach between Interserve, Premier Inn and DTZIM has ensured that this complex scheme is now viable and can be progressed,” said Interserve Developments managing director Dougie Sutherland.
“We have worked closely with the local authority over a number of months and we are now in a position to progress construction works on this major city centre project.”
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