The joint owners of the shopping centre M&G Real Estate, intu and JT Baylis plan to add an extra 35,350 sq m of space for shops to the existing 68,000 sq m Mall.

Their scheme will also include a 120-bed hotel, 150 apartments, new bus station, a multi-storey car park with 1,500 spaces and foot bridge over Merlin Road.

Building work is due to start in 2017 and the extension should be fully open by 2021.

It is anticipated that over 3,000 construction jobs would be created through the development.

Philip Vaughan, director development at M&G Real Estate said: “We firmly believe that the time is right to reshape The Mall to provide a greater focal point for the growing community in this part of northern Bristol.

“The scale of the investment proposed has significant and exciting implications, both in terms of building on what Cribbs Causeway offers now, and extending its economic contribution to South Gloucestershire and the South West as a whole.”