THE £100million sale of Blackburn Shopping Centre has been delayed for several days by paper work.

But the new owners said they expected completion on Monday and revealed they were working on plans to improve the complex.

However, London-based Reit Asset Management reiterated it could not give any concrete guarantees over the rejuvenation of rundown Lord Square.

Reit is now finalising the purchase of the centre from Standard Life Investments for a total of £100,860,000. The deal had been expected to be complete yesterday but delays in signing all the paperwork have led to the date slipping back.

Reit partner Kevin McGrath, who is concluding the negotiations, said there had been a delay in the formal close documentation.

"Monday will be the first day we own and control the centre and we are looking forward to getting our teeth into it," he said.

"Shoppers will not see any immediate difference. The problems surrounding the redevelopment of Lord Square have been going on for 10 years and it would appear that people have been let down on several occasions.

"Please do not expect anything immediate. We are buying a shopping centre with a development opportunity which we will fully explore, but there will be no overnight solution."

Blackburn with Darwen Council, which owns a 16 per cent stake in the centre, approved the deal after talking to Reit and investigating its financial background.

It was not legally entitled to have conditions over investment included in the contract of sale, but has seen the company's preliminary plans for improving the complex.

Reit, a company with a £2billion portfolio of shopping centres and industrial and commercial property,said the only way to get a good return for the investment of its clients was to improve the shopping centre.

Standard Life carried out major development works on most of the shopping centre in the mid- 90s.

But it stopped short of developing Lord Square, claiming that the rents-return did not justify the estimated £18million it would need to invest.