A NEW office development is set to create more than 100 new office jobs in Maidstone. Work will begin later this year on the new complex at Turkey Mill, the award-winning business park off Ashford Road, Maidstone.

The development will be named Tolherst Court after a previous owner of the site Thomas Tolherst. The two-storey, air-conditioned building will offer nearly 16,000 sq ft of space in single or multiple self-contained offices, with suspended ceilings and plenty of car parking spaces. Preliminary work has started on widening the access road and building a new footbridge and path.

Tom Sheldon, director of Turkey Mill Investments, said the speculative development reflected increased demand for office space on the site.

More than 500 people already work at Turkey Mill, formerly a working paper mill developed by the Whatman family. When completed and fully occupied, Tolherst Court will boost the workforce to around 630.

Mr Sheldon said there was a healthy level of interest in the business park and he was already in discussions with a Maidstone company requiring a around a quarter of the space available in the new building.

"Turkey Mill provides good transport and communication links and competitive rents, but it also offers that little bit more," he said.

"It is not just a standard business park, all the offices are individual, completed to a high specification and set within landscaped grounds to create the perfect working environment."

Rents at Turkey Mill range from £14 to £18 per sq ft. Thomson Directories and Location 3 Properties recently moved to the business park which is now home to more than 40 companies.

Other tenants include Learn Direct, McCarthy Motor Holdings, EMC Management Consultants, Dutch Direct and Coolair Equipment. Existing tenants Link ICA, Cybio Northern Europe and KSI Worldwide Freight have also taken additional office space on the Turkey Mill estate.