Ireland’s largest timber frame housebuilder Century Homes is to build a £3m production line in Scotland in a move to capture a larger slice of the burgeoning British market.
The I£20m-turnover com-pany, which currently produces timber frame homes from sites at Monaghan, Waterford and Longford in the Irish Republic, is building a 40,000ft² site at Bellshill, north Lanarkshire.
The facility, employing up to 50 workers, will be capable of producing 40 houses a week when it reaches full capacity in one year to 18 months’ time.
It will push the company’s timber frame output above the 3,000 per year mark from its present level of 2,300.
Century is looking to open a second UK site in the south of England once the north Lanarkshire plant is bedded in. Century marketing director Paul McDonald told TTJ that this site – the fifth for the 11 year old company – should be operational within three years.
Century believes output from its new sites will be quickly mopped up by housebuilders given that it believes current UK supply of timber frames meets only half of demand.
Mr McDonald said: ‘There is room for many, many more manufacturers to enter the market. In the UK there is a massive expansion of timber frame due to the changes in the building regulations which make it very difficult for masonry to compete. There is a huge interest in timber frame.’
Demand for the company’s products is expected to be buoyed by the 20% disparity between the Irish and UK pounds, which makes Century’s output 20% cheaper than it otherwise would be.
