A NEW £9 million student flats development has been unveiled for Bolton town centre.

The Cube, which will have 216 rooms in total, would see empty offices at Victoria House in Bradshawgate refurbished — along with a two storey extension and a new six-storey building behind it.

Project chiefs said The Cube would be built around a central internal garden and could include facilities such as a games room, a gym and launderette, with both buildings linked at ground floor level by a communal terrace.

Cllr Cliff Morris, Bolton Council leader, said: “It’s great for the town centre. If it can help regenerate the town centre then that’s good.”

The Cube comes on the back of a number of “des res” student flats which have opened in the town centre, including the converted former Pack Horse Hotel in Nelson Square.

It is a joint project between London firm Aspen Woolf Europe and Dublin-based developer Woodthorpe Homes.

A planning decision is expected soon and, if given the go-ahead, the first students would move in in September next year.

Russell Midgley, a partner at Aspen Woolf Europe, said: “We’re very excited about The Cube as it will create a whole new living concept for the students of Bolton.

“The project has been meticulously planned and will give students peace of mind when they make the big move from home life to university life.

“It will be like a home-from-home and will provide many facilities along with the added security a new build offers.

“Today’s students are demanding a higher standard of living and to keep Bolton as an attractive university choice, we are providing one of the best student facilities the country has to offer.”

If approved, the project would further boost the area’s student population.

The former Pack Horse hotel in Nelson Square reopened last year as luxury accommodation housing more than 100 students.

And in February two further blocks of student accommodation were given the green light, one at the historic former Mechanics Institute in Mawdsley Street, and another on the site of Nevada Motors in White Lion Brow, just off Spa Road.

Speaking at the planning meeting where both projects were approved, planning committee member Cllr Bob Allen said: “We are becoming a student town and there is not much wrong with that.”