THE first occupant of the office block at the heart of Blackburn’s new £34million Cathedral Quarter has moved in.

National events organiser GovNet Communications has taken half the second floor of the building.

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They completed their move from the Blackburn Enterprise Centre on Furthergate earlier this month and have been recruiting new staff.

With outsourcing giant Capita due to take the whole of the first floor of One Cathedral Square later this year, the news that GovNet has taken up residence is a major boost to attempts to let the remainder of the building.

The council currently has interest from potential tenants for the rest of the first floor, the third level and fifth floor and hopes to seal deals in the coming weeks.

Borough Conservative group deputy leader Colin Rigby said: “This is good news for Blackburn with Darwen borough which has underwritten the development and needs the income. The developments in the Cathedral Quarter have transformed Blackburn town centre and we now need the people to come and work and visit there.”

Founded in 1997, GovNet deliver conferences and exhibitions and training courses for the public sector.

The firm has moved 13 staff from the business centre and has been recruiting ten more white-collar workers while they completed the move into the six storey office block.

Sharon Azam, GovNet’s Blackburn-based sales director, said: “Cathedral Quarter is an ideal location to allow us to meet our future growth plans and to attract the very best talent the region has to offer”.

It also has offices in London, Birmingham and Manchester.

Blackburn with Darwen regeneration boss Phil Riley said: “It is great to have a business of this stature move into the Cathedral Quarter Office block.

“It is a firm with which the council has had a long relationship.

“They have been recruiting new staff of the high-quality we want to see in Blackburn with Darwen.

“We now have a lot of interest for other office space in the building which hopefully will be fully occupied by early next year.”

Blackburn and District Chamber of Trade president Tony Duckworth said: “The glass palace is taking a long time to fill.

“We need it to have tenants so other business decisions can be taken.

“Hopefully it will soon be occupied so work can start on the second office block.”