BLACKBURN town centre is to get a second £8million office block to complete its ambitious Cathedral Quarter development.

The six-storey building, Two Cathedral Square, will complete the square around Lancashire’s premier Anglican church and create 300 new white-collar jobs.

Developer the Eric Wright Group, which is funding the project, will submit a planning application for the block on the grass next to Railway Road opposite Morrisons store and the Adelphi pub later this month.

It will then seek potential tenants with a view to completing the building, which will take around 12 months to construct, by 2020.

The new development will offer 30,500 square feet of office space and 5,000 square feet for restaurant, cafe, bar or coffee shop use.

The design will match One Cathedral Square with a glass front looking over the square and a brown stone finished back onto Railway Road.

The final half-floor of the first block, opened in November 2015 by former Blackburn MP Jack Straw, has recently been let to a financial services company meaning it is finally totally full.

Mr Straw said: “I am delighted. To finally complete the ambitious vision for the Cathedral Quarter with a second office block exactly where it was envisaged more than ten years ago is an amazing achievement.”

His successor Kate Hollern MP said: “This is fantastic news. It will compete the reanimation of this part of Blackburn town centre which now needs to be spread wider.”

Blackburn with Darwen Council regeneration boss Cllr Phil Riley said: “It is a great vote of confidence in Blackburn town centre.

“Eric Wright has made amendments to the design of the office block to ensure it keeps the airy, open and sunny feel of the Cathedral Square.

“Two Cathedral Square will add further vibrancy to the town centre and bring hundreds of high-quality jobs of the type Blackburn needs.

“Completing the quarter will bring economic benefits which spread across Blackburn and the whole borough.”

Peter Howell-Jones, Dean of Blackburn Cathedral, said: “I am delighted that the joint vision for the Cathedral Quarter is now a step closer to being completed.

“It is sign of the growing confidence the council and developers have in the town.”

When the new office block is completed it will bring the total investment in the Cathedral Quarter, once the location of clutch of ageing bus shelters on The Boulevard, to more than £40m.

The development includes a £6m suite of clergy buildings and cloister garden, the first at an English Cathedral for 600 years, and a new £5m Premier Inn with two restaurants.

It features new public gardens, with space for events such as the German Christmas Market coming in December and a refurbished 113-year-old marble statue of Queen Victoria.

The One Cathedral Square block, bought for £9.1m by global investment giant Legal and General in March 2015, is home to offices for rail company Northern, GovNet Communications, Organic Insurance, Capita and recruitment firm Cummins Mellor.

Andrew Dewhurst, development director of Maple Grove, the Eric Wright Group subsidiary in charge of the scheme, said: “When it comes to demand for business space in Lancashire, Blackburn town centre is at the fore.

“One Cathedral Square has proven to be extremely popular and we are confident that number two will follow suit, helping to position Cathedral Square as an established business and leisure location.”

“It’s a major regeneration project for the region and as a Lancashire developer one that we are very much proud to be a part of.”

The news follows last week’s revelation that a developer has come forward with proposals for a multi-million pound retail complex on the former Blackburn market site.