A new £150m development which will create 2,500 jobs in Edinburgh's city centre has moved a step closer to reality after the submission of a planning application to the City of Edinburgh Council by Artisan Real Estate Investors.

The proposed scheme will link the capital's New Street/East Market Street area and Waverley Station with the historic Royal Mile, covering a total area of five acres. It will transform the area into a new pedestrian-friendly urban centre mixing open public spaces with independent retailers, restaurants, hotels and leisure offerings - as well as new homes and offices.

Lukas Nakos, Artisan's Managing Director, said: "This planning application marks a significant milestone in the evolution of one of the most challenging city centre developments anywhere in the UK. We are now delivering on our promises made when we first started this process, some 18 months ago.  

"We now have the opportunity to create, in the very heart of Edinburgh,one of Europe's most exciting and vibrant mixed-use communities which will set an international benchmark for sensitive and innovative development.  

"Our planning application reflects this varied and dynamic consultation process and we feel we now have a proposal which balances ambitious and flexible commercial priorities with a genuine understanding of the area's community and civic context.

"This is a long overdue opportunity to revitalise a strategic city centre location between Waverley Station and the Scottish Parliament - whilst being part of the very fabric of the historic heart of the city. The location is the missing piece of the jigsaw which will see the rejuvenation of the Old Town as a vibrant commercial and social quarter of international appeal."

Centred around a new £6.5m civic square, the new development will create around 16,500 sqm of grade A office space, together with provision for 400 hotel bedrooms and 28 new retail businesses, using smaller commercial properties at street level. There are also plans for a new community facility, together with 145 residential units and 40 affordable homes.

In all, there will be space for some 1,750 new jobs with 720 jobs being created as part of the construction phase of the development - which could start as soon as spring 2014.