The site will also see 350 homes built around the waterside, together with a restaurant and visitor centre.

Greenock's adjacent Custom House Quay was a major emigration centre in the 1800s, and will be a good location to display archive material.

All this, plus the 2,500 flats and houses to be built within a mile of the new marina, is sure to signal a new opportunity for boating businesses.

The relocation of James Watt College to the waterfront and the establishment nearby of a new call centre and banking units has already started the improvement. Once again, a marina development is to be the "eye candy" for the district.