EVEN before the formal opening of the £1.3 million new extension to the Innovation Centre at York's Science Park, hi-tech firms are queuing to move in - and the project is expected to generate 80 new jobs.

Martyn Harrison, chairman of Malton-based S Harrison Developments Ltd, has put the final finishing touches on the two-storey, 10,000 sq ft extension which includes laboratories and offices for high-tech businesses to rent.

But even as Susanne Walker, the Innovation Centre manager, and Professor Tony Robards, chairman of the Innovation Centre company plan a formal opening at the end of this month, new high-tech software businesses have been moving in or are preparing to take advantage of the extended facilities. "There is plenty still to go for," Mrs Walker has assured would-be tenants.

The extension will partly relieve the huge pressure on the Innovation Centre, which has been full since it opened in 1995.

It is part of a development scheme worth more than £10.4 million which should see four other freestanding buildings erected on the site near the university, three by April and the final venue for high-tech ventures later in the year.

And funding is being sought, partly from government funds held by Yorkshire Forward, the regional development agency, for a £7 million three-storey 30,000 sq ft bio-incubator at the Science Park, complete with complex laboratories.

Prof Robards, who is also pro-vice chancellor of external relations for the University of York, said the instant reaction to the prospect of tenancies at the new extension was "testimony for the demand for this sort of high-quality space."

Among the first to take advantage of the extra offices in the Innovation Centre, is Northern Real-Time Applications, or NRTA.

One of its divisions, Realogy, will remain in the old Innovation Centre but in the new extension, joined by a single-storey link, will be LiveDevices, its new enterprise.

Realogy, has developed an operating system which allows 18 small computers in the Volvo S80 to communicate - for instance, automatically increasing the radio volume the faster the car travels; and LiveDevices has just begun to market embedded systems linked to the internet.

The devices will mean that washing machines of the future will be able to inform their manufacturers instantly when they break down so that instant repairs can ensue. "Or organisations which hire out drinks dispensers, for instance, will be able to gauge instantly when the machines need restocking or if any of them are faulty," explained Jessica Courtney, NRTA's corporate services director.

She said the expansion into more than 700 sq ft will mean that NRTA, which began with four people in 1995, growing to 31, was now likely to employ another 20 people before the year is out.

South Field Systems, a software company, based at The Mount in York, has also moved in - expanding into 1,400 sq ft of the new extension; and Lexicle, a start-up software company, is preparing to move there. Mrs Walker said: "It is great to see the extension complete. Not only is the development in line with York's objective to position itself as a base for science-related industry, but we no longer need to turn tenants away.

"There is room to accommodate our existing businesses and welcome new ones. Harrison has provided a superb facility to budget and on schedule."

The centre offers tenants a range of managed facilities and services.

The biggest advantage for some is that tenants also have access to a range of university facilities.

- Anyone interested should contact Mrs Walker at 01904 435100 or by e.mail at inov2@york.ac.uk