Drawn up by architect Will Alsop, who died last year aged 70, the plan boasted a range of radical proposals, not least a hotel designed to look like a giant Champagne bottle and apartment blocks in the shape of Prada skirts.

Then came the 2008 global financial crisis, prompting the coalition government to slash public sector regeneration budgets. Tees Valley Regeneration was dismantled, alongside its counterparts across the country. The impact on the grand vision for Middlesbrough was inevitable.

However, after a long hiatus, regeneration plans, albeit more grounded in reality, are again starting to take shape, this time driven by the local authority.

So what is the new strategy?