UP to 100 jobs are likely to be created with the opening next week of a new business park at Hunts Rise at the South Marston Business Park.

It was the former Vickers site where Spitfires and other wartime aircraft were built and one of the few remaining Spitfires will swoop low overhead as a champagne party is held to mark the official opening of BSS South Marston on Tuesday.

The BSS South Marston venture consists of 16 luxury serviced offices in Berkeley House and adjoining warehouses able to accommodate up to 60 units.

Joining Maureen Harvey, general manager of BSS, part of the Hampton Trust plc, at the official opening will be its chairman, Graeme Jackson, and other top executives, as well as Swindon Mayor Stan Pajak and two World War Two Bomber Command heroes, Group Captain WSO Randle, also a Spitfire pilot, and Air Commodore MG Thomkins.

"In many ways this venture echoes our first venture at Cheney Manor which opened 17 years ago, creating more than 350 jobs," said Mrs Harvey.

"That venture, which continues to be a huge success, led to any number spinoff companies, many of them now very successful.

"Now we look to the future with BSS South Marston, which is ideally situated for transport and access to all parts of the country.

"It is a very exciting time for us and all our tenants and we look forward to repeating the success of Cheney Manor, this time on the eastern side of Swindon."

Already a number of tenants, all new to the area, have moved in to the warehouse part of the site.

They include a company making solid wood flooring, which has a large team of fitters and office staff; a hair and beauty products wholesaler; a hi-tech engineering company and a garage door distributor to the domestic market, which has an on-site showroom and warehouse, and a plant and machinery service and hire, which has taken on about 50 people in Swindon over recent weeks.

In the Berkeley House offices tenants include a new enterprise, an academy for training professional stylists in specialist areas.