You can stay and watch a movie

AN EMPTY cinema in the city centre is set to become a £20m hotel complex – complete with a giant outdoor movie screen.

The ambitious plans would see the site of the Odeon on Clerk Street, which closed amid widespread protests in 2003, retain some of its long film legacy. The proposals were revealed today by Duddingston House Properties, which wants to demolish parts of the building – including the main auditorium – and create an 'arts hotel'.

The famous art-deco frontage would be kept intact under the plans, as would the foyer. The auditorium would become a new central courtyard and public space, where films would be shown on the glass screen.

Designed in partnership with city architects firm Make, the 230-room hotel – to be called ZED – will also contain an 80-capacity lecture theatre and a cafe/bar.

Architect Ewan Anderson said they had done all they could to keep intact memories of the Odeon, which was relocated to Lothian Road despite pleas from campaigners including Sean Connery and Dougray Scott.

Mr Anderson said: "While it is clearly disappointing not to have found a new use for the main auditorium, we believe the solution we have adopted justifies the intervention by retaining as much of the building as possible, particularly the frontage to Clerk Street, and bringing it back to life though contemporary design and a vibrant new use."

It is expected the hotel will be open by 2010 and the developers hope it will become a major Festival and Fringe venue.

The project blueprint has been overseen by Edinburgh College of Art principal Professor Ian Howard, who ensured the design features aspects of fashion, film, furniture design and scripture. He said: "The opportunity presented by DHP at the former Odeon cinema gives the creative industries in Edinburgh a chance to engage with the property industry in a very dynamic and exciting way."

DHP director Charles Martin added that the firm had tried everything they could to keep the Odeon building as a working cinema. He said: "While there will always be a view that a listed building with the historic significance of the Odeon should have remained a cinema, we have fully tested this possibility."