THIS is the first glimpse of the £50m master plan to restore Southampton as the Home of Ocean sailing.

The huge scheme will dramatically alter the face of Ocean Village, complete with a ten-storey five-star hotel towering over the marina.

Millennium & Copthorne Hotels has just signed a deal to create the "iconic building", which sits at the heart of the regeneration plan.

City bosses hope the development will lure back prestige sailing events such as the Volvo Ocean Race and the BT Global Challenge, which have been lost from Southampton and moved down the south coast to Portsmouth.

The loss of the high-profile events has forced the removal of signs proclaiming Southampton as the Home of Ocean Sailing, in a humiliating loss of the crown to the city's south coast rivals.

The dream is that when completed, the city's waterfront will be home to joyous scenes like those recently seen in Falmouth when Ellen MacArthur completed her solo navigation of the world.

Jutting out into the marina, the hotel is surrounded by water on three sides so each of the 200 plush rooms will have sweeping views over the marina and the city's historic waterfront, as will diners in the rooftop restaurant.

The dramatically styled hotel complex will also include a 500-seat Millennium Conference Centre complete with exhibition facilities as well as spa, gym and "room service" for ships berthed in the marina.

Southampton City Council leader Adrian Vinson hailed news of another "high-class hotel" as "a strong vote of confidence in our future prosperity".

Elsewhere parts of Ocean Village are also to undergo a dramatic redesign.

Areas of seafront currently used for car parking will be landscaped to allow for a plaza next to the water as well as space for tented villages for hospitality and functions at major sailing events.

A multi-storey car park to be built to the rear of the site will replace the spaces.

The redevelopment will also see about 125 flats and 10,000 square metres of office space erected alongside a new Innovation Centre to assist fledgling businesses.

Tony Keeler, managing director of Ocean Village Marina owners Marina Development Ltd, said: I believe that with the addition of the Millennium Hotel, Southampton Ocean Village will become the UK's top marina."

Gavin Hall, a planning consultant at agents Savills, which is managing the scheme said: "It will give local residents an urban waterfront quarter in which to work, live and socialise, and engender pride in their city."

Site bosses hope to lodge a planning application to the council this summer, with an aim of starting work early next year and the guests coming on site in the summer of 2008.