A MULTI-million pound scheme to change the face of Malvern's Defence Evaluation and Research Agency has been unveiled.

The project, aimed at bringing the site into the 21st Century, brings with it the prospect of up to 1,000 new jobs.

DERA has just submitted plans for three new buildings on its 60-acre site between St Andrew's Road and Poolbrook Road.

But that is just the first phase in an ambitious project which, if carried out, will see many of the site's buildings replaced in the biggest development since its founding just after the Second World War.

DERA site director Dr Graham Brown said: "It has to be emphasised that we've not yet secured the funding to make this happen. But everyone at DERA is very enthusiastic about it.

"The work done at the Malvern site, such as software engineering and telecommunications, is exactly the kind of thing which has great potential for the future."

He said the projected figure of 1,000 new jobs, mentioned in a report sent to Malvern Hills District Council with the planning application, was an estimate based on how many the site could accommodate if all went well.

He said: "We have grown from about 1,500 ten years ago to 2,400 today and we can find room for another 1,000 or so."

Project leader David Payne said: "The site has grown up organically over the years. Many of the buildings are reaching the end of their lives and are completely unsuitable for the needs of high-tech business.

"What we need now is, first, the planning consent, second, the internal funding and third, the business growth."

The three buildings in the planning application are the first of a planned eight or so which are set to replace numerous one-storey prefabricated lab and office buildings.

The whole object is expected to be implemented over the next decade or so.

The aim is to create a "collegiate campus feel" and make DERA more visually attractive when viewed from the Malvern Hills. A new conference centre, library, canteen and fitness centre are also planned.

DERA's gate on to Poolbrook Road will be upgraded as part of the plan, to take some of the pressure off its other accesses from St Andrew's Road and Geraldine Road.

As a Crown agency, DERA does not need to get planning permission from MHDC, but it does have to sent plans to the council for consultation.

David Murray, senior planning officer said: "We treat it like a planning application, informing bodies like the highway authority and the neighbours, and gathering their comments.

"We will take it to a committee, like a normal planning application, and the members will decide whether they object to it or not.

"If they have no objection, all well and good, but if they do object, it will then go to the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions as well as the parent ministry, in this case the Ministry of Defence."

DERA's plans are available for inspection at the planning office, Brunel House, Portland Road, Malvern.

The part-privatisation of DERA was announced earlier this month.

Last week, Malvern Hills Science Park, in which DERA is a partner, was given a £1 million grant to help fund the second phase of its development.

The science park was set up to generate commercial spin-offs from DERA's work.