A DEVELOPER has unveiled more details of the multi-million pound scheme to transform a slice of central Winchester with new shops, offices, bars and homes.

Thornfield submitted the mass of documents associated with the scheme -- the most significant in Winchester for generations -- to city planners this week.

And representatives from the London-based company told the Hampshire Chronicle on Monday how the scheme would bring the old and new together to transform the city.

The plan includes a 100-page design statement and several pictures illustrating the plans, which includes provision for nearly 300 new homes in the city centre, a new office block, and a 50,000 sq ft square for public gatherings and markets.

The 'Silver Hill' renaissance, as it has been dubbed, because it aims to create a distinct area which sits in harmony with other historic quarters in the city, will also house a new medical centre and provide space for an array of small specialist shops, cafes and bars.

In his hope to create a new "community" in the city, Thornfield managing director Mike Capocci, said he believed architects, Allies and Morrison, had come up with a groundbreaking scheme, which would enhance, yet sit comfortably with, the rest of Winchester.

"This is the first time anyone has tackled a major development in a historic city centre, which has not been a 1970s shopping centre," he said.

"It will be an example to other cities up and down the country as to what can be done."

The plans for the £100m project are based on the City Council's own planning brief for the five-acre site, stretching between The Broadway, Eastgate Street and Friarsgate.

It will feature a range of building styles and materials and accommodation -- 40 per cent of which will be affordable -- including flats above shops and terraced housing, which, because of new occupants, should breathe new life and commerce into the Silver Hill area, said Mr Capocci.

The plan also means a new 12-bay bus station, moved away from the Broadway at Friarsgate, and a market square at the head of a newly-extended Lawn Street, offering previously unseen glimpses of the Guildhall.

Sainsbury's will be relocated to a larger plot at the corner of Friarsgate and Middle Brook Street, close to a new medical centre, which will be large enough to cater for patients of the two surgeries currently there. There is also provision for a new post office.

It is hoped the new Silver Hill square will provide a home for small retailers, shops, cafes and bars and be an area where people can congregate after the shops shut, when the city historically "shuts down".

Thornfield hopes that, after the plans are submitted this week, building might commence a year after the compulsory purchase orders are implemented. The scheme, which would be built in phases, would take five years.

Public exhibitions of Thornfield's plans will be held at The Undercroft, in Winchester's Inner Close, for three days from Thursday, June 8, to Saturday, June 10.

Plans from London and Henley to develop one part of the scheme at Middle Brook Street were submitted to Winchester City Council this week.

The rival bid to Thornfield's comes from the company, which owns the Brooks Centre. It has always maintained since last year that it would be willing to develop all or part of the site. A decision is due on this scheme by August 30, 2006.