DESIGNS for two major business parks which could create hundreds of jobs in Burnley have been unveiled.

Burnley Knowledge Quarter is set to be created behind UCLan’s Burnley campus, in Princess Way.

Located on the former household waste recycling centre in Grosvenor Street, it would include a number of hi-tech and advanced manufacturing businesses.

And the £50million Burnley Bridge development is expected to create around 1,600 jobs when it is built close to junction nine of the M65 in Hapton.

The artists' impressions were presented to potential investors by Burnley Bondholders, a consortium of businesses, during a breakfast meeting in Manchester on Wednesday.

Burnley Council leader Charlie Briggs said: “This event was about taking Burnley out there.

“The event was a fantastic opportunity to showcase our up and coming development opportunities to the agents and developers who influence major businesses looking to relocate.”

Work on the 70-acre Burnley Bridge Business Park, which will offer speculative and build units, is set to get underway later this year.

It is hoped the unique Burnley Knowledge Quarter will provide specialist knowledge transfer from UCLan to creative and manufacturing industries.

Information on both developments was made available at the Advanced Manufacturing and Property Breakfast, at Manchester’s Midland Hotel.

Some of the biggest names in international real estate attended the event, including DTZ, Jones Lang LaSalle, GVA, alongside development and construction companies.

Steve Rumbelow, Burnley Council’s Chief Executive, said “The Manchester event was a great success and a great opportunity for us to promote Burnley to some big hitters.

“We need to be getting Burnley noticed in the right places, we have the sites to rival those of the big cities, and would go as far as saying we can offer more than those sites do.

“Land in Burnley is available at a much more competitive cost to those located close to the city.

“We can offer businesses easy access into the motorway networks, the skills and the workforce, as well as a lifestyle for their workforce.

“Offering superb housing close to the countryside and within an hour of more than one major city, and a far more relaxed drive into work without getting snarled up in big city traffic."