AN EARLY 1900s factory is having a £1 million makeover to boost Maidstone's job-pulling power. The Industrial Centre in St Peters Street, Maidstone, a well-known riverside landmark and home to the Karen Millen fashion enterprise, has been renamed Powerhub Business Centre Maidstone.

It already supports around 500 jobs but centre owner Grosvenor Land Holdings hopes to attract a further 125. The London company - its chairman is Kent-based ex-Test cricketer Phil Edmonds - has spent £600,000 on a facelift and pledged a further £500,000 investment over the next few months.

Douglas Blausten, managing director, said the Maidstone Powerhub was a blueprint for similar centres the company owned across the country. The investment would lift the image of the old building and attract more "like-minded" businesses. He would also be asking his Paris office to promote the centre to French firms looking for a good UK base.

"We'd like to attract companies from France," he said. "If we can bring in a little bit of internationalism here, we would like to do that." Mr Blausten paid tribute to the county town. "Maidstone is under-estimated, it's often lives in the shadow of Ashford but in some ways it has a better environment and we can capitalise on that."

He said Grosvenor Land was committed to the centre. "We've got lots of work to do here, we've got a programme and we're not just talk." Cllr Dan Daley, Maidstone council's cabinet member for economic development and tourism, said the facelift was the building's "salvation".

Cllr Pat Marshall, the Mayor of Maidstone, said: "They've done a wonderful job and I'm sure it's going to add to the economic viability of Maidstone." The former Tilling-Stevens vehicle factory site dates back to 1912. Over the years, it has built commercial vehicles and tanks and the Rootes Group was a previous owner. It is now used for a variety of commercial enterprises.

Grosvenor Land also owns a high street shopping development in Whitstable, and Phil Edmonds has developed the London Beach Golf Hotel in St Michaels, near Tenterden.