A HIGH-FLYING Rossendale property development company has completed a £12million deal to buy nine industrial and commercial sites across the North West.

The family-run Hurstwood Group's deal with national developers Ashtenne Industrial Fund North West represents the largest single investment by the company.

The investment complements the Rawtenstall-based group's expanding portfolio after it won a £3.3million design and build contract for a new Liverpool art college and completed a deal to acquire the £5million, 23-acre Lune Industrial Estate in Lancaster. The floor area of the new sites is just over 200,000 sq ft.

Hurstwood Group chairman Stephen J Ashworth said: "We are delighted to have completed this development investment purchase.

"Hurstwood already boasts a significant presence in the North West region. We will now have sites in new parts of the region giving us projects in all corners of the North West and beyond."

The sites are: Agecroft Enterprise Park, Salford; Bersham Enterprise Park, Wrexham; Broadstone Hall Industrial Estate, Stockport; Croft Business Park, Bromborough; Hampton Court, Runcorn; Millers Bridge Industrial Estate, Bootle; Portside Industrial Estate, Ellesmere Port; The Cobden Centre, Salford and Waybridge Industrial Estate, Salford.

Based in Rossendale, Preston and Lancaster, The Hurstwood Group, was nominated Business of the Year at the Lancashire Evening Telegraph 2005 Business Awards.

It is a fast-growing property company with development, investment and construction projects across the country.

The group has 15 companies under its umbrella and over 300 employees and plans to open a new office in the Midlands in the near future.