A £13m modern arts centre is to open in Aberdeen in 2010, after proposals were green lighted by the Scottish Government.

The new centre recently received £4m in capital funding from the Scottish Arts Council and will be the first of its kind in northern Scotland.

The development is the result of a partnership between Aberdeen City Council and Peacock Visual Arts, which hopes to attract 200,000 visitors a year to the site.

The centre's activities will range from exhibiting contemporary arts and hosting exhibitions by world-class artists to running community outreach and education projects. Facilities will include galleries, printmaking, television and dance studios, workshops and space for music, film screenings and talks.

Lindsay Gordon, director of Peacock Visual Arts, said: "For us, this is the culmination of a 10- year journey to become one of Scotland's finest contemporary arts organisations.

“The new centre will be a beacon of creativity in the North of Scotland and help position Aberdeen on par with other Northern European cultural centres such as Copenhagen and Helsinki.”

Designed by architect Edgar Gonzalez of London-based Brizac Gonzalez Architects, the building will primarily be built underground, and heated using geo-thermal and solar energy.

The building, located at the city’s Union Terrace Gardens, has been given the working name 'The Northern Light' due to its north-facing glass terraces.

The designs for the centre have already won praise from Architecture + Design Scotland.

Iain Munro, co-director of the Scottish Arts Council, said: “We are pleased to support this exciting and inspirational new project in an architecturally sensitive and beautiful new building in Union Terrace Gardens.

“It is a visionary project of local, national and potentially international significance and will be an exciting new addition to Scotland’s cultural facilities. The project is more than a facility merely to re-house Peacock Visual arts, but represents a new model for Scotland for diverse artistic creativity to be housed under one roof.

Peacock’s partnership with City Moves and Aberdeen City Council’s Arts and Educations Teams means the project will offer everyone in Aberdeen, the North East and beyond exciting new opportunities to engage in a wide range of creative activity.”