WORK is about to start on a major £5.1m rural business centre and auction mart in the heart of North Yorkshire.

Thirsk Rural Business Centre will include 12 business and light industrial units, as well as the relocated mart, and should be completed by August next year.

The 100,000sq ft mart will be on a 20-acre edge-of-town site between the A19 and the A168 Thirsk bypass.

The rural business centre will incorporate 6,205sq ft to be let inside the auction mart area, 2,300sq ft designed for further education courses, a caf, restaurant and 8,400sq ft of commercial space in five units.

There will also be a multi-purpose meeting and amenity space for use by businesses and community organisations.

Thirsk Farmers Auction Mart Company has awarded the construction contract to local company Severfield-Reeves Projects.

Mart chairman Harry Woodhead said: "There is already strong interest in the business units, which are aimed at agriculture-related enterprises including professional services, vets, engineers and country stores.

"We have firm offers on four of the units and are seeking tenants for the remainder."

A market has flourished in Thirsk since medieval times and the existing livestock market has been in place for more than 70 years.

The relocation follows a feasibility study, part-funded by Thirsk Regeneration Initiative, which found that the market could prosper and diversify by relocating from its town centre base - which will be developed for housing in autumn 2006.

Severfield-Reeves Projects has carried out all the design for the scheme, incorporating features from the existing auction mart, as well as handling all the planning.

Managing director Lindsay Ross, who is also chairman of Thirsk Regeneration Initiative, said: "As a local business which has supported many ventures in, or relocating to, the Thirsk area during the past 20 years, we are particularly delighted to be involved in this scheme which is so important to the rural economy."