Work on two new business parks which have the potential to create hundreds of jobs in the north of Scotland got under way this week.

The £1 million site servicing and landscaping contract on the Wick Business Park in Caithness and a similar £900,000 development at Golspie in Sutherland have been let earlier than expected by Caithness and Sutherland Enterprise (CASE), part of the Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) network, thanks to the Scottish Executive enhancing HIE's budget for the current financial year.

Over £600,000 (pounds) of European funding is also being provided for the two projects which were among the first to be approved under the new EU Highlands and Islands Special Transitional Programme.

This first phase of development on the 12.5 acre site at Lochshell, near Wick on the north-east side of the Wick-Thurso road should be completed by the end of the year, paving the way for the business park to be marketed as a prime business location. The Wick Business Park has room for around 150,000 sq ft of building space on nine separate plots.

In Golspie, the 3.6 acre site, beside the A9 southern approach to Golspie will provide enough space for nine plots of various sizes from 3,500 sq ft to 10,000 sq ft and will help diversify the economic base of the local area. This particular development is also the result of a very successful partnership between CASE, The Highland Council and the wider Golspie community who worked together to ensure the best possible result for the local area.

Carroll Buxton, acting chief executive of CASE said: "These developments will offer attractive opportunities for inward investors but there is considerable potential for local businesses to expand into them as well.

"These new, modern facilities will make use of the area's excellent telecommunications links and are well located next to good transport systems. The Wick Business Park is well sited for easy access to the airport and the Golspie Business Park lies adjacent to the A9 with good links both north and south.

"Facilities like those on offer at both sites have proved very successful in other parts of the Highlands and Islands, delivering significant economic growth and jobs for local people. Both locations will be actively marketed locally and further afield and any resulting development will impact on the unemployment rate in each area which are currently above the Highland average."

The site servicing and landscaping contract at Wick has been awarded to John Gunn and Son, Lybster and at Golspie to Edward MacKay, Brora. Both contracts were let following a competitive tendering process.