THIS is the dramatic vision to turn a run-down former nightclub in central Southampton into a towering block of student flats.

A developer has put forward plans to tear down the Voodoo Lounge and Buyology site near Above Bar to make way for hundreds of apartments.

If their proposals are given the green light, a building up to 11 storeys high would rise up from Vincents Walk. and tower over Above Bar It means that there are currently more than £260 million of major student accommodation developments that have been recently completed, are being built or are planned in the city.

The sites, offering rooms for more than 4,000 students, include the Mayflower Halls and City Gateway schemes that are now open and others such as the former B&Q site in Mayfield Road and Back of the Walls which have planning permission.

Victoria Hall Management, which runs student accommodation across the country, has filed plans for the new building of up to 11 storeys in Vincents Walk.

If they are approved the buildings housing the former Voodoo Lounge nightclub and current Buyology discount store would be torn down.

The Voodoo Lounge site is now empty after the club closed, having been operated as other short-lived nightclubs including Chicago rocks, Bliss and The OC in recent years.

Staff at the Buyology shop said no decision had been made on potentially relocating the branch if the plans are approved.

In their place a new tower block containing 44 cluster flats and 97 studios, enough for 283 students, would rise up from the site while there would also be a commercial unit on the site.

In the firm’s application it says the flats would be designed to appeal to returning, postgraduate and overseas students as opposed to those in their first year.

In the application, they say: "The application proposals represent an excellent development opportunity to respond to the significant demand for student accommodation in the city whilst also responding to the council and local residents’ aspirations of reducing the amount of students currently living within private rented accommodation by providing a high quality purpose built student accommodation in a highly sustainable and accessible location."

A decision on the plans is due from council planning chiefs by the end of the year.

Victoria Hall Management declined to comment.