UP TO 1,800 new jobs are expected to be generated at Sherburn-in-Elmet following the launch of one of the UK's largest speculative industrial developments.

More than 100 commercial property agents from across Britain converged on Cosmic Park, an £85 million, 1.6 million sq ft industrial and distribution warehouse estate on the site of disused areas of Sherburn Airfield.

Jupiter, the largest of the units - each named after planets in the solar system - has recently been completed with three other huge distribution warehouses and five smaller industrial and manufacturing units due for completion next spring.

Already Cheshire-based Gladman Developments, which is in charge of the project, is in legal talks with a Yorkshire company which wants to bring together its head office and distribution centre in the yet-to-be-finished Mars, which consists of 27,000 sq ft.

Yorkshire Forward, the regional development agency, chose Gladman Developments for the massive task on the 90-acre site - a mini-universe which is expected to revitalise an area hit hard by the closure of the Selby coalfields.

All the buildings will be either for sale or rent. Freehold price for the mighty 666,000 sq ft Jupiter, is £36.6 million. Lease terms are likely to be about £2.83 million per year. The smallest of the nine industrial and manufacturing units, at 5,700 sq ft, is up for sale at £385,000 or £31,350 rental per annum.

The 100 commercial property agents heard the units are expected to be occupied by national retailers and distribution companies, as well as local manufacturing businesses.

David Gladman, director of Gladman Developments said: "There is strong interest in a a number of buildings and now that more than 100 specialist property agents have seen the facilities for themselves, we can expect even greater interest."

Tim Matthews, the firm's development manager, said the closure of the last pit in Selby late last year left several thousand miners seeking new employment.

"We did our homework. They are a highly skilled and motivated workforce, used to working a three-shift pattern and perfect for re-employment in the logistics industry.

"In total 1.1 million people live within a 15-mile travel to work area around Sherburn and the location is only a few miles from the A1 as well as the M62 and M1 motorways with perfect linkup with Hull and the other North Sea ports."

Denise Dodd, acting chief executive of york-england.com, the inward investment agency for York and North Yorkshire, said: "We are very enthusiastic about this new development created so quickly by Gladman Developments.

"We now have some really good products which we will be promoting hard to investors from both the UK and overseas. It will give a real boost to the economic development of the Selby area, located as it is at a crossroads of the Northern Way."

Updated: 11:17 Tuesday, November 22, 2005