Click here to read the original article by Lexi Cottee for Star Weekly, 9 September 2015.

Construction is underway on a $1.2 billion business park in Mickleham that will create almost 2700 direct jobs while under construction.

The business park is part of the Merrifield project, a joint venture between Melbourne-based MAB Corporation and Gibson Property Corporation that will gradually transform 770-hectares into a commercial, residential and industrial precinct.

At a sod turning ceremony on Wednesday, MAB Corporation co-founder Andrew Buxton welcomed Premier Daniel Andrews, Hume mayor Adem Atmaca and other state members to the site to look at renders and plans for the 330-hectare business park development.

Once complete, the business park is projected to accommodate up to 11,000 direct jobs and between 16 and 26 per cent of future employment growth in Hume.

Paint manufacture Dulux was the first major business to announce it would move into Merrifield. In March the company revealed it would relocate some of its paint operations from Sydney and Brisbane to a new $165 billion plant in Mickleham by 2017.

Its new distribution centre is slated to start operating in mid to late 2016.

Mr Andrews said the Merrifield development would provide the state with a significant economic boost.

“Victoria continues to create jobs and attract businesses from around the world,” he said.

“This business park upon completion will support over 30,000 jobs and that is great for Melbourne’s north and great for our state.”

Mr Buxton said the business park’s location was a drawcard for some of Australia’s biggest businesses.

“Merrifield’s positioning near major transport infrastructure, chiefly the Hume Freeway servicing the east coast, Melbourne International airport, and Somerton Intermodal Terminal with access to the Port of Melbourne, will allow businesses to access local, regional and interstate markets 24/7,” said Mr Buxton.

He said the company’s vision for the entire Merrifield project was to create a community so that people could live, shop and work close to where they lived.

When the project was officially launched in 2013, then planning minister Matthew Guy said it was a perfect example of the “20-minute” city central to Plan Melbourne and based on the principal of living and working locally.