MORE than 550 jobs will be created when a Kent-based company teams up with specialist large-scale growers of fruit and vegetables.

Fresca Group will invest a massive £80million in building a 91-hectare site - to be called Thanet Earth - located between Birchington and St Nicholas at Wade.

It will include seven glasshouses, each covering the area of around 10 football pitches, and will use the very latest in efficient hydroponic growing techniques.

An automated packing facility will be built as the huge scale of the project allows the venture to exploit recent technological innovations to increase its efficiency.

With the addition of the research and visitor complex, Fresca expects the site to become the UK's leading centre for developing new varieties.

The greenhouses will be computer-controlled and will be equipped with latest growing kit including the combined heat and power (CHP) installations that will provide enough electricity to supply over 50,000 homes; more than half of Thanet's needs.

Chris Mack, chairman of Fresca Group, said: "I doubt that there's any other company that would have had the resources, the ambition, the persistence and the vision to make Thanet Earth more than an idea.

"It's taken a committed team over two years to turn the idea into a reality. We've worked closely with Thanet council who have been very keen to attract this level of investment to help secure an agricultural future for the area.

"As a Kent-based company, we're very excited about developing in Thanet. The creation of so many jobs will further enhance our position as one of Kent's leading employers."

Steve McVickers, who will be managing director of Thanet Earth, said: "It's quite specialised both at production and central operations and offers some really exciting opportunities for people to learn new skills."

Thanet Earth will begin to take shape in early October. The first glasshouses are scheduled for construction next March and the first Thanet Earth crops will hit the shelves during the autumn of 2008.