FOR decades the good burghers of Worcester have never quite known what to do with Diglis Basin, that sprawl of boatyards and industrial businesses crammed higgledy-piggledy between the River Severn and Bath Road just south of the city centre.

It has been crying out for someone to do something.

Well, if you go down there now, somebody is doing something. There are men in yellow fluorescent jackets and red hard hats all over the place, bricklayers by the ton, chaps in tower cranes and others carrying buckets of cement up ladders with a strength and technique you can only wonder at.

The aroma of bacon and sausages sizzling on the mobile canteen drifts through the chilly winter air. Suddenly, Diglis Basin has burst into life.

The bung in the redevelopment barrel here has always been restricted access to the dead-end site. The one road in and out, Diglis Road, was too narrow for the projected traffic flow of anything new.

Now the nettle has been grasped and planning permission given for a second access from Bath Road, although it will mean knocking down houses to get there.

With the floodgates open, figuratively speaking, the builders have moved in andBryant Homes has rolled its sleeves up.

London's Docklands is set to arrive in Worcester.

Within five years, the company intends to transform the dowdy 26-acre site with a blend of new-build and refurbished homes. The old basin, where boats moored side by side for generations on dank water, has been drained. It will be repaired, refilled and form a shimmering centrepiece other developments would die for.

Likewise, the western edge bordering the river will be turned into a promenade with gently sloping grassy banks and newly planted trees, overlooked by new-build flats.

More than 120 tradesmen are working dawn till dusk under the expert eye of NHBC award-winning site manager Andy Harper.

"This is a hugely exciting project, both for the city and for Bryant Homes," said Graydon Worthing, the developer's regional sales and marketing director.

"The sensitive regeneration of this area is long overdue and the scheme is intended not only to provide one of the finest new homes developments in the Midlands, but will also be an integral part of the ongoing transformation of Worcester."

The first release of properties on the development, which has the working title of Diglis Water, will be blocks of one and two bedroom apartments overlooking the restored basin. They will start from about £150,000 and be available through estate agent Allan Morris from mid-March. First occupations are expected to be in the autumn.

Town houses will be released in a second phase, which is also scheduled to include shops, a restaurant and a water park.

But all that is for the future. For the moment Diglis Basin looks like its been run over by a bulldozer. Which it has really.