WORK started yesterday on Thorn Lighting's £24m factory, which will safeguard hundreds of jobs in the region.

The 40,000sq ft building, in Spennymoor, County Durham, will secure the future of Thorn's operation in the region for at least the next 20 years, and will secure the jobs of its 700-strong workforce.

Thorn - which manufactures 8,000 types of lighting - will transfer production to the site, on the town's Green Lane Industrial Estate, from its base in Merrington Lane, which it has occupied since the early Fifties. The site, which will include a research and training centre, is expected to be operational by the middle of next year.

The Merrington Lane factory will be bulldozed to make way for 400 homes.

Yesterday, work officially got under way on the new development, with chief executive of Thorn's parent company Zumtobel, Andreas Ludwig, attending the event alongside local MP Helen Goodman and representatives from regional development agency One NorthEast and County Durham Development Company.

Mr Ludwig said the new factory was of huge importance to the whole group.

"It represents our greatest operational challenge for the coming financial year, underlines our commitment to the UK, and supports our strategy of retaining production as close to the customer as possible."

Albert Nugent, leader of Durham County Council, said: "Today's groundbreaking ceremony heralds a new era for Thorn and its employees as it will create a 21st Century workplace for a forward-thinking company with an exciting vision for how we will light our homes, offices and factories in the future."