The site is being prepared for major redevelopment

The 400 acre site will be completely redeveloped with a new hospital, railway link, learning campus, school and hundreds of new homes.

It is thought that around 1,500 jobs will be created with the new development on the old Corus site.

The steelworks closed three years ago with the loss of 1,100 jobs after 200 years of steel and iron production.

The �15m project is thought to be one of the most complex reclamation and regeneration schemes in the UK and it is estimated that it will pave the way for schemes worth �150m in the town.

The reclamation process will include treating 11 old mineshafts and tackling huge, empty basements - equal in total to 10 football fields - under the site. Some of these could be used for underground parking.

The reclamation includes recycling 110,000 cubic metres of aggregate and enough steel reinforcements to make more than 60 million tin cans.

More than a mile of new pipe drainage will also be installed.

The buildings of the steelworks have all been demolished

Work to clear the site has been underway since the closure of the plant in July 2002.

In 2004, demolition experts were drafted in to clear a number of buildings on site, including the distinctive pickle line which had been a landmark in the town for decades.

Andrew Davies, the Welsh Assembly Government's Minister for Economic Development and Transport toured the site on Thursday.

"It was a very sad day when the steelworks closed - although that last march was a very sad occasion I was proud of being part of it because there was so much pride in the community," he said.

He said that it was that pride in the local community that had led to the ambitious reclamation and regeneration project.

John Hopkins is the leader of Blaenau Gwent Council and chairman of the Corus Site Development Board which is made up of the various agencies involved in the project.

The 400-acre site will be completely transformed

"It is a very ambitious project but it is going to the catalyst for the future of the community," he said.

"It is going to give the young people in the area the opportunity of high quality employment and high quality housing.

"And of course we have got the hospital which is the jewel in the crown as well as the learning campus which will give opportunities for life long learning.

"The new rail link will also make this area become hugely attractive because people will be able to commute to Cardiff and Newport far easier.

"The closure of the steelworks was a huge blow to the area, but this new scheme will be the phoenix that rises from the ashes," he added.

The land reclamation programme, which is being managed by Blaenau Gwent and funded by the Welsh Development Agency, is due to be finished by 2008 with work on building 500 houses starting in 2007.

As part of the scheme office space which can accommodate 1,500 workers will be built on the site along with 500 new homes and new primary school, a learning campus to accommodate 3,500 students and a new 111-bed general hospital costing �27m.

There will also be a new Ebbw Vale to Cardiff rail link.