The project would see a 173-room aparthotel open in Louisa Ryland House, if plans just submitted to the council are approved.

Louisa Ryland House is a cluster of three Victorian buildings located behind Birmingham’s Council House at the junction of Cornwall Street and Newhall Street.

The building has been empty since it was sold for development in 2014.

Louisa Ryland House dates from 1879. It was originally three separate buildings - the Medical Institute, the Board School Offices and the Parish Offices.

The aparthotel operator, Native, who already operate hotels in Manchester and London, is planning to convert the Grade II-listed building into an aparthotel with a restaurant and café plus a fitness studio on the ground floor.

A glass-roofed conservatory would extend from the reception through to an open-air courtyard area.

Louisa Ryland House was named after the Victorian heiress and benefactor who left large tracts of land to the city including the site which is now Cannon Hill Park.