THE half-built eyesore of Birmingham’s first five-star hotel could be disguised by a giant advertising hoarding for up to five years.

City planners are set to allow a 118ft x 38ft structure to hide two concrete pillars at Snow Hill Queensway.

The two blocks are all that exist of a bid by developers Ballymore to build a towering luxury hotel and apartments.

The company pulled the plug on the £500 million scheme at the height of the recession and credit crunch in 2008.

Anglo Irish bank withdrew funding amid a retreat from commercial property, putting paid to Phase Two of the Snow Hill project – a 43-storey residential block with 332 apartments and a 23-storey hotel designed by Birmingham architect Glenn Howells.

US operator Starwood Hotels & Resorts had been lined up to open a 198-bedroom Westin Hotel and Spa in the finished building, billed as Birmingham’s first five-star hotel.