Pictures have been released revealing ambitious plans to convert a major county building into a two-storey rooftop restaurant.

Architects Bell Associates, of Warlingham, Surrey, has submitted the proposal to Cheltenham Borough Council for the scheme just off the town's famous Promenade.

Client Regent Arcade would see the lower end of its Regent Street building - once partly occupied by BHS - transformed into a parade of restaurant and retail fronts with the aforementioned showpiece space above.

"We have submitted the application in order to secure planning approval for the alterations on Regent Street to accommodate three new restaurant frontages, change of use from A1 (retail) to A3 (restaurant) and D2 (Leisure), a new entrance to a proposed rooftop restaurant, alterations to the Ormond Place Entrance, installation of plant, a repurposed entrance to the car park with vertical access, works to the public realm along Regent Street and Ormond Place," said Adrian Wood, of Bell Associates.

According to the architects and designers the Regent Arcade site, which contains an estimated 60 stores, is 19,500 square metres in total and the application covers a total of 7,074.7sqm including what it calls "leisure" space as well as retail and restaurant.

This includes 1,561sqm of what it calls "public realm works" to Regent Street and Ormond Place.

Additional floorspace created would total 269sqm, which includes the new entrance to the new roof top entrance from Regents Street.

Regent Arcade will be raising the bar of what is on offer in Cheltenham at the same time as the Brewery Quarter, at the other end of the High Street, continues to draw attention and the town awaits the October opening of the new John Lewis department store, directly opposite Regent's main entrance.

Bell Associates goes on to say that Regent Arcade has made a "significant investment" in the shopping centre over the last 10 years to secure tenants including big names such as H&M, River Island, Top Shop and TK Maxx.

These new plans are, it said "part of a planned strategy to protect the future of the shopping centre and ensure that it continues to contribute to the key retail zone in Cheltenham Town Centre".