ONE of the North's leading Construction and Property Development companies has secured planning permission for elaborate £160 million development at London's popular entertainment spot Leicester Square.

Cookstown construction giants The McAleer & Rushe Group will redevelop the Swiss Centre to include a five star 195 bedroom hotel and leisure complex.

This is McAleer & Rushe's second new hotel in central London targeting the upper end of the market, after recently developing the Hilton London Tower Bridge.

The Cookstown company also own several other hotels in Britain and Ireland as well as constructing others for hotel groups, notably for Jury's Doyle.

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McAleer and Rushe says this latest Leicester Square project for an iconic landmark mixed use development will replace the existing Swiss Centre building on the corner of Leicester Square facing towards Piccadilly Circus. The replacement of the Swiss Centre is at the core of Westminster City Council's plans for the improvement and regeneration of Leicester Square and the new £200 million building will stamp a new quality and image on the whole area.

The new development which is 200,000 ft of overall development will be ten storeys, with a frosted external skin and a tinted colour in the evenings and can be changed when desired.

McAleer and Rushe is involved in several other major projects in Britain as they have recently acquired a 6.5 acre site in Leeds which has the potential for an 186,000 square metre development. The site dubbed Central Park, will be developed as part of a master plan and was purchased for around £40 million.

Also in London the Cookstown construction property developers are planning a major redevelopment project in Baker Street subject to planning permission and securing vacant possession.