Century Homes of Ireland is to invest heavily in its new acquisition Alpha Timber Frame including the purchase of a £500,000 Randek assembly line.

Alpha’s business development manager Nick Whittle said the investments could treble the Surrey-based company’s annual turnover, from £5m up to more than £15m, after a year of the new line in operation.

Century, Europe’s largest timber frame manufacturing group, announced the takeover two weeks ago, explaining that the purchase will enable its UK customers to have an improved service.

The Randek line will be installed “within weeks” at Alpha’s Welsh manufacturing plant, significantly speeding up the fabrication process. It has also got the go-ahead to double the size of the Tredegar plant to 40,000ft2.

Mr Whittle described Century as probably the most technically advanced timber frame manufacturer in Europe.

&#8220The partnership will make us one of the largest timber frame manufacturers in the British Isles. This is a perfect match and enables us to move forward to secure large contracts which previously we have not been able to do.”

Alpha business development manager Nick Whittle.

He said: “The partnership will make us one of the largest timber frame manufacturers in the British Isles. This is a perfect match and enables us to move forward to secure large contracts which previously we have not been able to do.”

Alpha designers based at Tredegar, Godalming and Malvern will be networked into Century’s design system, and this is expected to speed up the whole construction process.

The company manufactures a range of buildings including homes, hotels, apartments and nursing homes.

Mr Whittle said he was not aware of any current plans to change the company’s name.