How the tower should look when it is ready in three years

The �40m landmark building complete with rooftop restaurant will be 328 feet (100 metres), dwarfing the city's 200 feet (61 metres) BT tower.

A planning application for the 25-storey building from the Dublin-based Niall J Mellon group has been approved by county councillors.

Mr Mellon said: "Our group is committed to ground-breaking and ambitious schemes in areas that have potential for major growth.

Suddenly people seem to have realised that Swansea is not really that far away Surveyor Rowland Jones

"With this fantastic scheme proposal costing nearly �40m we have delivered a truly stunning structure and one that will generate activity and jobs."

The tower will contain one, two and three bedroom luxury apartments and penthouse-style flats.

A restaurant on the top floor will give views across Swansea Bay.

It will nestled between the marina and seafront on the site known as Ferrara Quay and Seagate.

Also included in the scheme would be four seven-storey seafront towers.

Property prices

In total it would provide around 256 homes and nearly 30,000 square feet of commercial and leisure space for office, bars and shops.

It is hoped building would start next summer and be completed in 2006.

Rowland Jones of Swansea-based Rowland Jones and Partners and a member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, said there was demand.

"The development of a mixed residential, retail and leisure scheme will, I am sure, attract high levels of interest not only from within the city but from further afield.

"Suddenly people seem to have realised that Swansea is not really that far away and the attractions that it has to offer make it an attractive and exciting place to live and work.