LANARKSHIRE is on the verge of a jobs boost sparked by a £330million transformation of the former Chunghwa site.

LANARKSHIRE is on the verge of a jobs boost sparked by a £330million transformation of the former Chunghwa site.

Businesses are queueing up to move on to a new industrial estate and office park being built at Mossend to breathe fresh life into the area at Eurocentral.

Civil engineering giant TRAC International is to expand by creating 100 jobs and will be the first tenant to set up at the Centralpoint Elite Logistics Park.

The Aberdeen-based group will recruit over the next three years. It already employs 100 at three sites at Strathclyde Business Park in neighbouring Bellshill.

Most of the workers there - engineers and operations staff - will also switch to Mossend.

Director Rab Watt said: "This is an excellent move. The new facility is in an ideal location, with excellent transport links to the rest of the UK."

Centralpoint will offer nearly 424,000sq ft of industrial space when six warehouses are completed this month.

TRAC has taken a 10-year lease on the Athena, a 41,266sq ft industrial unit which also has dedicated office space.

Karen Campbell, chief executive of the Centralpoint and Maxim sites which are being developed by London-based Tritax Assets, is delighted at striking a deal with TRAC.

She said: "Securing a letting of this magnitude and so early on in the creation of this scheme is significant news, especially given the current market conditions."

Ms Campbell said another firm is keen to move on to Centralpoint but wouldn't give details.

The neighbouring Maxim Office Park is expected to be completed within two years to offer businesses a range of 10 buildings for commercial, retail or leisure accommodation. Work on two buildings will be finished in the coming weeks.

Ms Campbell said: "We are having encouraging discussions with a number of prospective occupants, and will be making our first agreements shortly."

Centralpoint and Maxim are expected to generate 5000 jobs on the site once occupied by picture tube maker Chunghwa which closed six years ago.