THEY are ground-breaking buildings that will change the shape of Southampton's skyline.

As the city continues the debate into how it can get back its "Wow factor", the Daily Echo can reveal that two imaginative projects are set to get the go-ahead from city chiefs.

One is a multi-million-pound tower block featuring flats, offices and restaurants in the heart of the city.

The other is a bid to turn part of Southampton's neglected old town into a stylish French Quarter.

Planners are expected to pass both next week.

The new 15-storey tower block, dubbed "Mayflower Plaza", will be built on a triangle-shaped car park near The Mayflower theatre.

It will house 196 new flats - more than a quarter of which will be affordable homes for key workers such as nurses and teachers - in West Park Road and an eight-storey office block in Commercial Road.

There will also be two restaurants and 214 parking spaces in the scheme by Clerical Medical Investment Management Ltd.

The old town scheme will see 186 flats, as well as offices and restaurants, in four multi-storey buildings on the site of a former Habitat warehouse.

The southern end of Castle Way would be closed off and historic footpaths would be re-created in a bid to preserve the heritage of the old town area.

An alleyway called Vyse Lane would be opened to the public again for the first time since the Second World War.

Bosses at developer Linden Breamore say it is a chance to breathe life back into the area.

They have consulted residents, the city council and English Heritage bosses - and now say they have come up with a top quality design.

Starting at the southern end of the site, on the French Street side, a part three-storey, part four-storey building would contain 25 one and two-bedroom flats.

To the east, a five to seven-storey-high building along High Street would contain 55 one and two-bedroom flats as well as an office, shop or restaurant on the ground floor.

Next to that further up the High Street would be a four or six-storey building with 46 studio or two-bedroom flats. Offices or a medical centre would move into the ground floor.

The final three to five-storey building, overlooking French Street, would house 60 sheltered housing flats.

Linden Breamore's design director Michael O'Brien said the development, at 107 to 118 High Street and 67 to 69 Castle Way, would be called the French Quarter partly because of nearby French Street.

It is likely that city chiefs will ask the developer to provide cash for playgrounds and also help pay for traffic calming in French Street and pedestrian crossings.

The Mayflower Plaza project has also been approved by English Heritage, who said the design fitted with the historic Watts Park.

Southampton's housing supremo Paul Russell welcomed the Mayflower Plaza plans.

He said: "It goes some way to relieving the problem of homelessness in the city with the affordable housing. It's only a small way but even so, it is an important inroad.

"I am not against buildings that show diversity and I welcome this building's impact which I think will enhance the city."

Planners are expected to give both schemes the green light after previously throwing them out. Both proposals have been changed significantly in a bid to get them passed. Council planning chiefs will decide on Tuesday.

Would rebuilding the Royal Pier give Southampton a "Wow factor?" - See story below.