THE former Ingersol Rand warehouse and offices in Horwich has been transformed into a thriving business park housing 20 different companies employing a total of 420 people.

The final touches of the refurbishment at Paragon Business Park marks the completion of the £7 million project, including £4 million spent on refurbishment.

Owner Douglas Graham and business site manager Ruth Yates have created a range of office suites from the shell of the former Ingersol Rand building in Chorley New Road, near the Beehive roundabout.

The building was stripped back to the brickwork and then sympathetically refurbished. It is now complete and tenants have 24-hour security with 24-hour access.

Douglas Graham bought the site in 2000 and set about a long term refurbishment of the huge 12.5 acre site.

He said: “We managed to acquire the site against stiff competition and it helped that Ingersol Rand wanted a five-year lease at the front of the building which meant we had income from the beginning.

“All the back part of the building was vacant and I came out of retirement to plan the refurbishment.

“One of the nice things about the site now is that when the businesses bring clients here they are impressed with the building, how it looks and the location — which is very near junction 6 of the M61.” The site has a range of modern office suites from 315 sq ft to 6,600 sq ft, with an on-site restaurant which includes catering facilities for corporate events. It is also open to the public.

Site manager Ruth Yates was initially taken on as book-keeper but has ended up running the park and supervising the refurbishment.

She said: “It’s been a fantastic job, working with Douglas, overseeing the refurbishment and welcoming new tenants to the business park.”

The park is now home to a variety of businesses, many of whom start in the smallest units and expand into larger offices as their businesses grow.

Mr Graham’s towing and trailer company Indespension, now run by his son and daughter, also has large offices on the site and Comtech M2M moved from inefficient split site locations to a purpose built unit and renamed itself Amscreen. Kryston, which makes fishing equipment, is in the adjacent purpose-built unit.

SAT Travel, specialists in business travel management, has offices as does Tigersolv, a finance software business which now employs 14 people.

Also on the site is Imerja, an IT security company which won the SME Business of the Year from Bolton and Bury Business awards.

Other companies include AVR, Arrow Shutters, Southern Finance, and Phoenix. Just two office suites remain vacant.