The firm, which submitted revised plans after objections from Historic England, can now demolish Newgate Shopping Centre to make way for the the 270-bed hotel and separate student digs for operator Unite Students.

Work on the two new buildings on the site will create up to 400 construction jobs.

The development will also include the refurbishment of the Grade II listed, number 67 Clayton Street, which will form the entrance to the proposed office element of the scheme.

The proposed 575-bed student accommodation complex is on the Grainger Street side of the development site.

McAleer & Rushe Project Director Graham Mitchell said: “This scheme has evolved through extensive consultation with many stakeholders.

“Today’s announcement is the culmination of a lot of hard work in engagement and collaboration to deliver the best possible scheme.

“We hope to start on site in 2016 and to deliver the student element by summer 2018. However, this is a very challenging project site and there are still a number of construction complexities across the 1.7 acre site, in terms of the city centre location, that we have to overcome.”

The Newcastle office of Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners advised on planning.

McAleer and Rushe acquired the site in in 2006 and secured a similar planning permission in 2011 for the redevelopment of the site to include three hotels, offices, retail and leisure units.

The modified scheme will now be finished in natural sandstone to further complement the surrounding buildings of Grainger Town. The footprint of the student and commercial elements were reduced and the hotel size increased.

McAleer & Rushe’s has delivered in excess of 20,000 hotel bedrooms and is on target to deliver 7,500 student bedrooms within five years of entering the educational sector.

The Northern Irish developer and contractor’s previous schemes in the locality include a major hotel, office and residential scheme at St James’s Gate and the 204 bedroom Jurys Inn Newcastle Gateshead Quays.