BUILDERS are today preparing to start work on a new £5 million furniture showroom in Ipswich.Glasswells has handed over the site for the 73,000 sq ft showroom to Barnes Construction and work will begin next month.

BUILDERS are today preparing to start work on a new £5 million furniture showroom in Ipswich.

Glasswells has handed over the site for the 73,000 sq ft showroom to Barnes Construction and work will begin next month.

The two-floor glass fronted showroom, at Orwell retail park at the junction of London Road and Ranelagh Road, will create 70 jobs and will be four times the size of Glasswells' store in Martlesham Heath.

Managing director Paul Glasswell said the store will be a landmark and that they had wanted to work with an Ipswich builder.

“I'm the third generation of the family and we've always preferred to work with local businesses, like Barnes.”

Glasswells operated its 'Furniture Now” showroom on the site until the middle of this month.

The new store, expected to open December 2008, will sell dining and upholstered furniture, beds, floor coverings, curtains, linens, lighting, giftware and cookware.

It will also have an in-store designer service and offer contract furnishing for businesses.

There will also be a restaurant and a Playzone for children.

Mr Glasswell added: “This is just one of many development projects going on in Ipswich. It feels like a very exciting place to be. We're confident about the future in this area.”

The firm was set up by Paul Glasswell's father, Leslie - still chairman of the company - and his grandfather in Bury St Edmunds. The two other stores on the Orwell Park site will be unchanged.

What stores would you like to see open in Ipswich? to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk