A luxurious five star hotel complex creating hundreds of new jobs and a land bridge over South Road could soon be built in Bermuda ? with the developers of the world?s most opulent hotel lined up as its operators.

Conceptual drawings show a two-phase resort on both sides of South Road at the 37-acre Southlands estate in Warwick. The first phase could be a reality before the end of 2008.

Five internationally recognised hotel operators were contacted to ask if they wanted to get involved, all said yes.

But it was Jumeirah, which already runs some of the world?s most opulent hotels including the famous ?seven-star? sail-like Burj-al-Arab tower hotel in Dubai, which was chosen.

However, concern has been expressed about yet another hotel project seeking to by-pass normal planning application rules with Special Development Order status. In the past month a neighbouring hotel scheme on South Shore, put forward by Atlantic Development has also asked for an SDO, and the proposed Ritz-Carlton for Hamilton has received an SDO.

Plans have been submitted for the Southlands scheme and it is likely that a Section 34 ? which gives protection to large swathes of land across Bermuda ? will have to be rescinded to allow the scheme to go ahead. The developer is also seeking two SDOs, one for the hotel and one for a staff block as not all the land is zoned for tourism. The draft SDOs are included in the planning application awaiting a decision by Environment Minister Neletha Butterfield.

The most unusual aspect of the scheme calls for the realigning of South Road and for it to be covered over by a land bridge ? effectively creating a tunnel for traffic passing beneath.

Up above will be a wide, landscaped garden and pedestrian street linking the resort?s northern section with its southern section and the south shore beach.

And two holes will be created in the land bridge allowing over-hanging vegetation to dangle through and for natural daylight to illuminate the road below.

It is anticipated Bermudians will be trained up by Jumeirah in its luxury Dubai hotels before transferring back to staff the new five-star resort.

Staff accommodation in a ten-level complex, that will be concealed in the Hunt?s Quarry site will provide room for 375 people.

A total of 400 staff are expected to be needed to run the resort.

And a concrete sea wall and other permanent foreshore protection features have been designed to safeguard the resort and south shore cliffs overlooking the beach from further erosion. The on-Island developer has asked that a Section 34 agreement dating back 14 years that protects aspects of the site, including woodland and environmental features, be rescinded.

It is believed only one Section 34, which currently protects 119 acres of Bermuda, has been rescinded before. Currently Southlands is a mostly vacant site and has a mixture of green space, agricultural, woodland and only some tourism zoning. It is unlikely the scheme would be given planning permission through a normal application. The developers are seeking SDOs as an alternative and on October 13 received support from the Cabinet Committee on Special Hotel Developments to apply for SDOs.

The National Trust yesterday expressed ?grave concerns about the proliferation of SDOs over the past year?

Dorcas Roberts, NT environmental conservation officer, said: ?A dangerous precedent has been set where SDOs are used to enable large tourism development to opt out of Bermuda?s planning process. This process was specifically created with the aim of safeguarding Bermuda?s environment and as a consequence the economic, cultural and general welfare of the people of Bermuda.

?Large scale development has the greatest potential to cause environmental damage and therefore it is vital that such developments be addressed in a regular, scientific and transparent manner.?

The few buildings on the site will be demolished, although the historical Morgan?s Tomb will remain a feature within the resort?s extensive grounds.

As well as three five-storey resort buildings close to the shore on the southern side of South Road and a further five five-storey blocks to the north, the resort will boast an exotic spa, numerous smaller residential buildings dotted around the grounds to the north.

There will be three ballrooms, a nightclub, conference room and business centre, various cafes, bars and restaurants, dining terraces able to handle up to 400 people and swimming pools.

The resort will have 296 guest suites with a total of 371 bedrooms giving it the potential to accommodate 800 people.

In addition there will be 42 residential three-bedroom units.

The prospect of hotel operator Jumeirah coming to Bermuda was made public by Premier Ewart Brown at a meeting in St. George?s last month when he said: ?They (Jumeirah) have signed an agreement with a developer in Bermuda.

?I believe you are going to see these things coming to fruition during the next year.?

In planning documents Frank van der Post, a senior vice-president of Jumeirah, said the overall planning concept of the resort is acceptable and confirming the group has signed a letter of understanding with developer Southlands Limited.

Mr. van der Post wrote: ?We operate some of the world?s finest resorts and are currently looking to expand in the Americas region.

?We have been impressed with Bermuda as a destination and particularly impressed with Southlands as a potential world class resort.

?The Southlands team have designed a resort aimed at the 21st Century traveller and we have been impressed with the design.?

The vice-president said: ?We at Jumeirah are committed to continual training and would look to have further discussions regarding training Bermudians in our hotel in Dubai prior to opening of Southlands.?

Maryland-based McIntosh Alliance International Hotel Development Inc. (MAIHD) carried out a prospectus and feasibility study and conducted an international ?master plan? competition to select an architectural firm to design the plans for the resort.

Although the artists? impressions of the scheme are now public documents, and can be viewed at the Planning Department in the Government Administration Building, is still seeking authorisation to reproduce the images.

Bruce McIntosh, president of MAIHD, states in a planning letter: ?The current design and phasing is financially feasible and presentations have been made to financiers based on the current model.

?Five internationally recognised hotel operators were invited to consider long-term management of Southlands and every single one wanted to be involved as operator.?

In details for the scheme it is proposed to re-align South Road and widen it from its current two ten foot wide lanes to three lanes 12 feet wide, one to be used for traffic turning in and out of the resort.

There will also be two concrete sidewalks for pedestrians. An analysis of the new road configuration claims motorists can look forward to a one-second improvement in their journey times as a result of the slightly more direct routing of the road.

The land bridge will be a minimum of 18 feet above the road and the hotel owner will pay for all the road alterations.

Plans have been put forward by Southlands Limited, whose agent is Botelho Wood Architects.

This newspaper was unable to reach Craig Christensen of Southlands or anyone from Botelho Wood Architects at the time of going to press.