A former Newtown shopping centre is set to become a £600,000 'business hub', developers say.

Work has begun on Ladywell Shopping Centre with Newtown based developers Evabuild saying the 8,000 sq ft building will become a 'modern, open plan office that will employ up to 100 staff' after work has been completed in eight months time.

The company owns 10 of 12 units in the centre - excluding the doctors’ surgery - and says the remaining retail businesses will continue their tenancies. They say negotiations are progressing with prospective tenants.

In a statement, EvaBuild’s directors Nick Evans and Dan Jones said it was the first project of its type to be undertaken by the company and they planned to employ local contractors wherever possible.

“This project has been instigated by the need to inject ambition, innovation and sheer guts into private investment in our home town,” they said.

“We are planning to demonstrate that regeneration has to come from within the community and by local businesses reinvesting it will show that positive changes can and will happen to meet the needs of local residents.

“We see ourselves as innovators creating a better, new and exciting environment for those that live and work in it.”

The company bought Ladywell Shopping Centre, which was originally built by the Development Board for Rural Wales and extends to around 18,000 sq ft, in December 2017 from Townson Investments Limited.

They say the centre will be transformed externally and internally and the car parking layout will be amended to accommodate both cars and bicycles.

The transformation project is being supported by Powys County Council with a £280,000 loan from the Town Centre Loan Scheme.

Councillor Martin Weale, Powys County Council’s cabinet member for economy and planning, said: “I’m delighted that we have been able to support the re-development of Newtown’s Ladywell Centre through the Town Centre Loan Scheme.

“Empty and underutilised properties in town centres can be an eyesore but this scheme is the type of initiative that will invigorate our towns and encourage investment into the county.”

Newtown’s Mayor Cllr Sue Newham also welcomed the project. “I am delighted that a local company is investing in the regeneration of a town centre building that has been empty and neglected for years,” she said.

“I wish EvaBuild every success with the venture.”