COMMERCIAL property company Business First has agreed a £7.5m deal with Barnfield Construction to build three new business centres in the North West.

Business First, which has its head office in Mead Way, Padiham, and is part of the Group First global network of companies, will be working with the contractor to build modern office developments in Trafford Park, Ellesmere Port and Preston.

Building will start early next year.

The last three Business First centres to open over the past year in Glasgow, Preston and Derby are now 100 per cent occupied by business tenants.

The next three developments will take the total number of Business First centres up to 12.

Locations for the new centres will be Trafford Park in Manchester, next door to Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet in Ellesmere Port and at Millennium Park, just off the M6 in Preston.

All three locations are currently home to self-storage centres operated by Business First’s sister company, Store First. Designed by fellow Burnley company Craven Design, which is based at Business First’s Ribble Court centre in Padiham, the centres will feature a new, contemporary design and every floor will have its own kitchen, meeting room, toilets and communications room.

Business First operations director Sarah Fretwell said the company had ‘ambitious expansion plans’ to open three new centres every year for the next three years, taking the number of centres up to 18 by the end of 2018.

She said: “There’s massive demand for our cool, modern business centres and there’s already huge excitement surrounding the next three locations.”