Rural businesses have access to more than #7 million of funding to help them find premises with the launch of two new schemes.
Almost #6 million has been put aside to develop flexible offices for small businesses and #1.5 million for firms to refurbish their own sites.
The #5.9 million Rural Regeneration Zone Enterprise Centre Network, which is targeted at small firms in Shropshire and Herefordshire, aims to establish eight new office buildings to support growing local industry.
The scheme, backed by regional development agency Advantage West Midlands (AWM), will create 25,000 square feet of office and workshop space for small firms in Rotherwas in Hereford and Battlefields in Shrewsbury.
There will also be10,000 to 20,000 square foot sites in Leominster, Ross-on-Wye, Ludlow, Bridgnorth, Oswestry and Market Drayton.
The Network promises to provide flexible terms and rents for developing companies as well as business support services.
AWM said centres in Rotherwas, Shrewsbury, Ludlow and Leominster would begin development in spring 2007, with work on the other sites following in late 2007 and 2008.
Peter Pawsey, chair of the Rural Regeneration Zone – which encompasses the area where the hubs will be built – said: "We have a key role to play in improving the economic conditions of the West Midlands, and this project will help achieve this through fostering an enterprise culture and providing the right conditions for start-up and grow-on businesses to prosper.
"The project will deliver a consistent level of high quality premises for young businesses."
A grant scheme helping businesses in Shropshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire to refurbish and convert redundant buildings has been awarded an extra #1.5 million.
The Redundant Building Grants Project, which has already created and safeguarded 150 jobs in rural areas, provides grants for up to a quarter of the costs involved in renovation work.
Projects that have already received funding under the scheme include the restoration of an old malt house which now houses the only brewery in Ludlow.
In Herefordshire, an old milking shed in Ewyas Harold has been converted into a state-of-the-art storage facility for rare film archives and in Worcestershire a bakery in Tenbury Wells has been converted into a beauty salon.
Mr Pawsey said: "The Redundant Building Grants Scheme has been a tremendous success; more than #1 million has been awarded to 43 projects, which will eventually create more than 350 new jobs and safeguard about 100.
"At the same time the scheme has helped to preserve the unique environment of our rural areas by bringing many redundant buildings back into productive use.
