THIS is the stunning new look for the £50m Millennium Hotel in Southampton's Ocean Village Marina.

It's the centrepiece of a bold plan to recapture Southampton's title as the home of ocean sailing.

Alongside the 15-storey, 225-bed, glass-sided hotel will be a waterfront "events piazza" designed to lure back sailing races lost to regional rival Portsmouth.

Although planning permission for a hotel on the site, jutting out into the marina, was granted in 2006, the company behind the scheme wanted to redesign the building, which is now expected to open in 2010.

The building, which is intended to be a "four-star superior" hotel, has been altered to increase the glazing on the public floors at the base of the hotel and to make the guestrooms "float" above.

At the same time, the guestroom block has been moved towards the land to make the end of the promontory more of a destination and to provide a bigger outside dining area.

The glazing has also been extended to the ground floors to link the space with the outside events piazza, allowing events to spill outside from the hotel.

The piazza will boast five large statues depicting the coastlines of global ports with links to Southampton.

Other changes include the introduction of an environmentally-friendly sea-water cooling system instead of traditional air conditioning.

The project comes from Marina Developments Limited (MDL), the owners of Ocean Village Marina and the largest company of its kind in Europe.

Alan Chater of MDL said: "We are committed to building a high quality hotel on this key site in Ocean Village. The quality we expect is borne out by the quality of our first project as part of the Ocean Village masterplan, namely the Ocean Car Park, which has been awarded Best New Car Park 2008 and is shortlisted for a RIBA Design Award."

Gavin Hall of Savills' planning team, which prepared the application, said: "The revised plan is going to enliven the space. It opens up the ground floors so you can see through them and hold some spectacular events."

David Curtis-Brignell of hotel chain Millennium & Copthorne Hotels said: "The site will become a key business and leisure destination and the link from the ballroom to the events area will assist to attract major events into Southampton."