A REVOLUTIONARY new business centre is set to be completed months ahead of schedule - virtually!

Using the latest technology a Blackburn student has created a computer mock-up of the £2.8m Kingfisher Centre, at Futures Park in Bacup, to give potential tenants a tour of the building.

Construction at the cutting-edge business site started earlier this year and is now due for completion until May 2004.

Jayne Boyd, Kingfisher's Business Centre manager, said: "The Kingfisher Centre at Futures Park represents the very latest thinking in terms of business centre concepts.

"It will be unique in that it will provide integrated managed services from a manned reception to specialist on-site Business Link advice and services.

"So we wanted to do something which allowed potential users and even local residents to get a flavour of what they can expect once the offices are complete.

"This project will use the very latest technology to allow people to 'walk through the building' on their computers and discover how it will look when complete."

When complete the virtual tour will be available on the internet and in a CD-Rom version.

The ground-breaking initiative is being carried out by Blackburn degree student Imran Aga, who is currently studying for a BSc in Virtual Reality Systems at Huddersfield University.

He said: "This field study project is a relatively rare and wonderful opportunity for me to put what I am learning into practice.

"The project presents a certain number of technical challenges because of the amount of memory used during the virtual tour.

"The idea is to strike a balance between making the tour speedy enough and detailed enough for users to enjoy. To increase the speed you have to sacrifice some of the graphical quality."

Imran is working on the project at Business Link East Lancashire's offices in Clayton-le-Moors as part of the STEP undergraduate programme, which is managed in East Lancashire by Pendle Enterprise Trust.

When complete the centre, which is being built on the site of a disused mill, will bring over 150 jobs to the area in 50 office units. The centre will be unique in that it will provide integrated managed services from a manned reception to specialist on site Business Link advice and services.

Businesses can find out more from Jayne Boyd on 01706 606000.