Mr Tucker, who was Joe Chromy's right-hand man on the redevelopment of the old Launceston General Hospital, said that the JAC Group would be interested in looking at a future for the 35-metre high silos.

Launceston architect Glenn Smith said that there should be an ideas competition with a generous prize to encourage architects to come up with innovative designs for the silos.

Businessman Errol Stewart imagined a revolving restaurant with a "really spectacular view" on top of the silos.

They were commenting after the Launceston City Council agreed to conduct a feasibility study into erecting wind turbines on the top of the former grain silos.

The study was suggested by Alderman Jeremy Ball, who was concerned that the silos and the old Roberts and Webster wool stores nearby could be demolished.

They were acquired by the council as part of the $62 million flood levee reconstruction project.

Launceston architect and historian Lionel Morrell agreed that the silos were too much of a city landmark to contemplate demolishing them. He was also concerned about the possible loss of the wool stores.

He suggested options ranging from accommodation with an observation tower on top to a "whizz- bang" entertainment facility for children.

He said that the old wool stores and the land around them were also wonderful assets, earth-wise and shed- wise.

"I'd put the Launceston showgrounds down there and it's a great place for the circus," he said.

"Inveresk has become too precious so that there is no fair ground in the city anymore."

Mr Stewart said that an aquarium could be built at the bottom of the silos.

He has been to the top of silos and said that the view was spectacular.

"It would be a fantastic place for a restaurant," he said.

Mr Stewart had expressed an interest in developing the silos and the old wool stores before. He would like to see a bridge across the river from the Seaport complex and the area, including the wool stores, developed as the "Salamanca of the North".

The silos wouldn't be a problem in a flood, he said.

"You would just fill to the one-in-200-year flood mark, fill it to the same height as the flood levees and develop it from there," he said.

"You would still have six or seven levels - it would be pretty unique."

Mr Smith, who redeveloped buildings in Launceston like the old Crown Mill and the older silo complex near Kings Bridge, said that the silos near Kings Wharf could have multi-functional spaces.

"They could have restaurants and galleries or a hotel and convention centre," he said.

"It needs someone with vision to pull all these ideas together."

Former Port of Launceston Authority chief Jack Edwards said that the Kings Wharf silos had been built later than the 1912 date reported in The Examiner yesterday.

The old silos near Kings Bridge were built around the turn of the century, he said.

Those near Kings Wharf were built in 1958 for the PLA, Mr Edwards said.

"I remember them being built because we (the PLA) drove the piles for them," he said.

A vessel came up the Tamar to Kings Wharf to collect the wheat for interstate markets, he said.