DEVELOPER Merchant Place is behind a proposed 100-acre distribution centre in the region, which is expected to create more than 1,000 jobs, The Northern Echo can reveal.

The London-based property and finance specialist wants to build the UK's greenest warehousing development on the edge of the Aycliffe Industrial Estate, in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham.

Although there is no one lined up to move into the 1.5 million sq ft centre at this stage, Andrew Gale, planning consultant to Merchant Place, yesterday said he was very confident that it would attract a lot of interest when put to the market later this year.

He told The Northern Echo that the site could be operational as early as next year and has the potential to create more than 1,000 jobs.

Merchant Place is expected to submit its application for outline planning permission to Sedgefield Borough Council at the end of the month.

"Hopefully, we will get the outline planning permission by summer and then we can take it to market. We will then submitted a detailed planning application in the autumn," said Mr Gale.

Durham County Council and Sedgefield council are joint owners of the land, and have reserved the site for almost a decade waiting for a large scale project.

The two councils, and regional development agency One NorthEast, which also has a stake in the site, marketed the land and The Northern Echo reported last October that meetings had taken place with prospective developers.

The proposed scheme will be built in two phases, the first comprising 395,000sq ft of industrial warehousing and the second, a much larger distribution centre.

Merchant Place has a £2bn portfolio of property in the UK and Germany, and Mr Gale said the Aycliffe development would be a "flagship project" in terms of design and sustainability.

Tom Robinson, landscape design architect, said: "The site has been allocated for employment purposes. The idea now is to develop a site that will give the employment that is needed, but will do so in a sustainable way.

"Merchant Place is currently involved in some of the greenest developments in the country. We are looking to make this scheme a UK benchmark in terms of energy management and sustainability."

In February, The Northern Echo revealed plans by discount supermarket Lidl to build a distribution centre on land next to the Filtronic factory, adjacent to the proposed Merchant Place development, which will create 250 jobs.

Merchant Place is holding a public consultation on Friday, April 20, in the Great Aycliffe Town Council offices, between 9.30am and 3.45pm.