MORE than 100 jobs could be created after electrical company Glen Dimplex unveiled a £10m plan to build a new national headquarters.

The company is planning to buy more than 14 acres of land at Network 65, Bentley Wood Road, Hapton, at a cost of £1m for the development of a national operations centre.

The development would include a 240,000 sq ft warehouse, 10,000 sq ft of offices and car parking for more than 100 employees.

The development is likely to cost around £9m and will encompass distribution, warehousing, product conversion, sales and administration.

Provisional terms have been agreed with Burnley Borough Council, the current owners of the site, for the sale of the land to Glen Dimplex for £900,000.

The sale of the site and development would create around 100 new jobs and could help safeguard another 200 at the group's Burco Dean operation in Rosegrove, though council bosses say they are disappointed that more jobs are not being created on a site of that size.

The new posts would be mostly warehouse staff, but would also include transport workers, administration staff, sales staff and senior management.

Glen Dimplex is the UK's leading manufacturer of electric fires and was founded in Northern Ireland in 1973. Key customers include Argos, B&Q, Currys and Dixons and the group has sales of around £100m a year.

The group has grown to a corporation consisting of some 22 companies employing 8,000 worldwide since its foundation.

They currently employ 200 people in Burnley at Rosegrove and Shuttleworth Mead.

Glen Dimplex has set a timescale for the purchase and development of the land which they say is vital to meet the demands of next year's heating season. They say they need a firm decision on the site from Burnley Borough Council by the end of May with a view to completing construction by January 2003 and the site up and running by Spring of the same year.

The company's proposal --which was put to the borough council's executive last night -- says: "This is a fully developed and costed proposal ready to happen and will secure and grow our involvement in the local economy."

Dimplex, established for more than 50 years in Southampton, recently moved its head office to a purpose-built complex on the outskirts of the city.