Plans to build a £25m luxury holiday resort creating around 200 jobs, on the site of a former caravan park on the edge of St Ives have been submitted to Cornwall Council.

Truro-based Kingfisher Resorts plans' include an apart-hotel, extensive leisure facilities, villas and apartments, on the site at Carbis Bay. The site already has planning permission for 123 holiday homes, of which 29 properties and the amenities building have been built to date.

Kingfisher plans to invest at least £25m in developing Una Resort, which will feature a collection of iconic buildings, and has already spent more than £200,000 creating the Una Kitchen – a Mediterranean restaurant.

At the heart of the new resort is a large open piazza enclosed by the distinctive apart-hotel, which takes its inspiration from historic Cornish quoits and the local landscape. Its ground floor features local stone, to reinforce the concept of buildings ‘growing’ out of the landscape, and includes the resort guest reception, a home bakery and delicatessen, café/bistro, bar, and an indoor games club. Above the stone base a lightweight metal and glass structure offers dual aspect, spacious one-bedroom apartments with large open balconies.

A two-storey pavilion building is of similar design with four, one and two-bedroom apartments, while The Cairn, which is modelled on Bodmin Moor’s famous Cheesewring granite boulders, is a landmark building featuring four single storey holiday apartments with views to all points.

The existing leisure club will be expanded with a larger gym, a new fitness studio, plus a large heated outdoor swimming pool and two padel tennis courts enclosed by a viewing terrace. Una Kitchen will be expanded with a new internal terrace and al fresco dining.

Kingfisher director, Damian Sargent, said: “Una St Ives enjoys a fantastic location and we want to realise its full potential in creating a word-class resort featuring iconic architecture that takes its inspiration from the Cornish landscape.

“What we are proposing is only a very slight increase in the amount of development compared to the previously approved plans. We have significantly increased the amount of landscaping, including a wider green buffer between us and neighbouring properties, which is something that came out of our consultations with the community.”