A NEW £2.8m business centre in Rossendale has opened its doors via the virtual world of the internet.

Through a revolutionary computer mock-up of the development potential tenants can now take a virtual tour of the building.

Construction of the Kingfisher Centre at Futures Park in Bacup will not be completed until May but bosses interested in moving to the development can take a close up look at what is on offer.

Kingfisher's John Calway said: "The virtual tour is something which has never before been attempted for a building of this size in this area.

"Much larger projects have used the technology but it is a very new and costly process and we have broken new ground to even attempt it.

"We are delighted with the finished product and are in no doubt that it will be a useful tool to attract people to Futures Park."

The innovative project was put together by Blackburn student, 21-year-old Imran Aga. Imran, from Blackburn, is a Virtual Reality Systems undergraduate at Huddersfield University. Imran worked on the 12-week project for Kingfisher and their partner Business Link for East Lancashire, as part of the STEP undergraduate programme, which places students with companies for field projects.

The 30,000 square foot development will provide managed offices, broadband connectivity, conference and meeting facilities and 24-hour access.

When complete the centre, which is being built on the site of a disused mill, will bring over 150 jobs to the area in 50 office units.

Mr Calway added: "The virtual tour is typical of the sort of forward thinking we have applied to the entire centre.

"For, not only will businesses have state of the art technology to plug into and a host of managed services. But they will have people with knowledge, energy and talent that tenants are able to benefit from as well."

Funding for the centre has been provided by the Northwest Development Agency, the European Regional Development Fund and Rossendale Borough Council.

The tour will be available at www.askkingfisher.co.uk in the coming weeks.

Businesses interested in learning more about the centre should contact Jayne Boyd on 01706 606000.