Delancey Estates Plc is to develop a new 200,000 sq ft leisure scheme in Millennium Plaza next to the Millennium Stadium at a cost of �25m.

The company said it acquired a 150-year lease from Cardiff council and is to develop the scheme in conjunction with local developer Brunswick Holdings PLC.

work will begin immediately on Bute Street

Delancey Estates said the development comprises a 14 screen multiplex cinema, a health club, together with various restaurants, cafes and other leisure units. Completion is due in May 2001.

In another major development for the city, the British property company MEPC Plc announced it had formed a joint venture with Norwest Holst to construct and maintain a new square and road linking Cardiff city centre and Cardiff Bay waterfront.

A jointly owned company named Citylink Ltd has been formed and has agreed to build a new public space called Bute Square and a one mile long road, Bute Avenue, linking the city centre with Cardiff Bay.

The go-ahead was given for a �120m scheme to create a new Champs-Elysees style tree-lined boulevard in Cardiff.

Work will start immediately to transform the existing mile-long Bute Street into a prestigious dual-carriageway thoroughfare linking the city centre with its regenerated dockland area.

The master design was drawn up by David Mackay of Barcelona-based MBM Arquitectes, who designed and built the boulevards for the Spanish city's Olympic village.

Michael Boyce, chief executive of Cardiff Bay Development Corporation, said: "Bute Avenue will be a continental-style boulevard on a grand scale.

Construction is expected to take about 18 months and will complete the corporation's mission to reunite the city with its historic waterfront, focal point for the biggest regeneration project in Europe.