WORK has today begun on a £70million project to regenerate Cranfield's Mill Ipswich.The landmark project will see a 23-storey tower, 330 apartments, a hotel, restaurants, bars and a £7.9million state-of-the-art dance house.

WORK has today begun on a £70million project to regenerate Cranfields Mill Ipswich.

The landmark project will see a 23-storey tower, 330 apartments, a hotel, restaurants, bars and a £7.9million state-of-the-art dance house.

The 2.5acre site, which will be known as The Mill, is being developed by the East of England Development Agency.

David Marlow, chief executive of EEDA, said: “Plans to redevelop the Cranfields Mill site has helped to attract a huge amount of investment into the waterfront area in the past six years which has lead to widespread regeneration.

“We are very pleased to see the work get started. The redevelopment of the site will improve the waterfront environment, provide housing and business premises, attract future private sector investment and increase the number of visitors to Ipswich.

“The Mill will give Ipswich another reason to be proud.”

The dance house will be one of the centrepieces of the development, and will be home to dance company DanceEast.

Assis Carreiro, director of DanceEast said: “We can finally see our dance house begin to emerge on the Ipswich Waterfront.

“For all of us the vision is becoming a reality as we see the foundations laid for the future. We can't wait to see our state-of-the-art studios start rise from the ground.”

The EEDA granted £4m for the purchase and decontamination of the Cranfields Mill site in 2000. The development will include the adaptation and restoration of some of the historic buildings as well as construction of new ones.

n. Do you think the development is right for the area? What would you like to see at the waterfront?

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