Nottingham City Council has agreed the sale of the Guildhall site to a developer, paving the way for its £110m development.

The 1.4 acre Guildhall site, on Burton Street, has been sold to Miller Birch, the council’s preferred bidder to redevelop the site. Their proposals are to build a new 410,000sq ft development including Grade A offices, student accommodation, conferencing facilities, and to extend and refurbish the Guildhall as a four-star hotel.

Developing the Guildhall site is part of the strategic regeneration activity underway across the city to build a better Nottingham, including the building and development of high quality office spaces like BioCity, retail opportunities with the new Broadmarsh area, transport links like the new eco expressway and high quality new homes, such as those just opened at Trent Basin.

The Guildhall previously housed Nottingham’s central police and fire services, which have since moved to Byron House on Maid Marian Way and a purpose built station on London Road respectively.

The purchase of the site will allow Miller Birch to begin looking for tenants prior to development of the space, however they hope to be on site in 2018 to start some works, which Miller Birch says will be one of the largest developments ever seen in Nottingham.

The building had previously been a criminal and magistrates court up to 1995, and it was revealed recently that there is an extensive network of caves under the building

Councillor Graham Chapman, Deputy Leader of the City Council, said: “The Guildhall site is a unique one with a lot of history. I’m delighted Miller Birch are committed to providing a quality development the site deserves.

“The sale of the Guildhall site means more businesses, visitors and jobs will come to the city through the development of this site. The plans from Miller Birch are a good example of our plan to grow the city and we’re looking forward to seeing their development of the Guildhall progressing now.”

Peter Gadsby, chairman of Miller Birch, said: “We are delighted to have signed the agreement with Nottingham City Council to purchase this major landmark city centre site.

“We now look forward to progressing our plans and to work with the occupiers to deliver an iconic building befitting such an important prime city centre site.

“Miller Birch delivered the adjacent Trinity House, a £30m office building for Eon for its UK retail headquarters and are active on ng2, the most successful business park in the East Midlands.” “We are excited about redeveloping such an important part of Nottingham”.