STRIKING plans have been unveiled for a “visionary” £30m hotel and apartment tower which could become one of Southampton’s tallest buildings.

Orchard Homes is defying the downturn with a planning application for the 25-storey building in the city centre.

The development, which will include a 100-bed hotel and 122 flats, will rise up on the former Cedar Press site, between Royal Crescent Road and Saltmarsh Road, after the firm moved to Romsey.

Meanwhile budget hotel giant Premier Inn has confirmed it wants to build a new 150-bed hotel in the city.

The hotel, which is due to open within two years, is planned for vacant land behind the new headquarters of cruise giant Carnival and next door to the city’s only five star hotel, the De Vere Grand Harbour, in West Quay Road.

It will take the number of hotels on that road to six.

An operator is already in negotiations to take the lower eight floors of Orchard Homes’ building for a mid-range hotel with a restaurant and entrance facing Royal Crescent Road.

The upper floors will contain a mix of one, two and three-bedroom apartments for sale on the open market.

The 71-metre building would become one of the tallest in the city; the development of former VT site in Woolston proposes a 25-storey tower that would stretch 82 metres into the air, while the 21-storey Radisson SAS Hotel being built in East Park Terrace will reach 83 metres thanks to a metal spire.

There are also plans to create a 27-storey tower on the former Meridian TV site in Northam, which is estimated to be about 90 metres high. But Millbrook Towers at 25 storeys and 73 metres remains the tallest building to date.

Orchard Homes said the “striking” design will have a “significant impact on the surrounding area”.

Managing director Ken Lake said: “Royal Crescent is a visionary development that will have a massive impact on the city centre and beyond.

“We are justifiably proud of the development not least because we are a local company and this is only part of our vision to assist in the ongoing evolution of Southampton.”

Cedar Press managing director Tony Manser added: “We’re pleased to see the exciting new plans coming to fruition, adding to the renaissance and regeneration that has taken place in the city centre over the past ten years.”

The development will go up behind Solent Sky Museum, which itself is awaiting redevelopment.

Museum director Alan Jones said. “Any development which is mixed use and brings tourism would be welcome.”

If Orchard Homes’ plans are passed later this year construction work is due to start in 2010. The development should be ready for occupation in 2012.