An Olympic hero dropped in to town to officially open newly refurbished offices at Imperial Place yesterday.

Four-times Olympic rowing champion Sir Matthew Pinsent visited offices at Imperial Place, in Elstree Way, Borehamwood, to celebrate the letting of one of the buildings to jewellery firm Signet Group.

The firm, which is the parent company of high street chains H Samuel, Ernest Jones and Leslie Davies, will employ 300 people at its new headquarters in Building Three.

The owners of the offices, Europa Capital and The Property Merchant Group, say up to 2,000 workers could move into the remaining space, with the creation of some local jobs.

Property Merchant Group director James Bowdidge said: "It's massive news. We are delighted for this project and for Borehamwood. We've spent £5 million on the refurbishment and Matthew is launching it today as the start of our letting campaign."

Sir Matthew said: "It's obviously good for the area to have this kind of facility come on line.

"I met some of the councillors this morning and they seemed to be on the same wavelength. It's very exciting for them that it's obviously going well."

Imperial Place was sold by T-Mobile for £58.6m in January, after lying empty since 2002.