Europe鈥檚 biggest timber-frame manufacturer has announced plans to increase its workforce by almost 50% and double its turnover after winning an affordable housing contract that could result in 1300 new homes in the North-east, writes Martin Hilditch.

Century Homes has secured a contract worth 拢3.5m to build more than 300 affordable homes over the next two years.

By 2010, work is expected to have started on a further 1000 homes, though the details of that development have yet to be finalised.

The work will require Century to double its workforce to 80 at its factory in Blyth, near Newcastle. It is also aiming to increase its overall workforce from 420 to 600 in the next five years and increase turnover to more than 拢69m in the same time frame.

Century was selected by Northern Partnership Homes, an alliance of housing associations comprising Durham Aged Mineworkers鈥� Homes Association; Endeavour Housing Association; Enterprise 5 Housing Association; Milestone Housing Association; Newcastle & Whitley Housing Trust; Nomad Housing Group; Tees Valley Housing Group;Three Rivers Housing Association and Two Castles Housing Association.

Century will construct homes across Darlington, Easington, Durham, Thornley, Stanley, Gateshead and South Tyneside.

Gerry McCaughey, Century鈥檚 chief executive, said: 鈥淲inning this flagship social housing contract demonstrates Century鈥檚 ability to deliver homes to the highest quality available anywhere in the world.

鈥淭his dynamic alliance shows how a group of forward-thinking housing associations can unite to drive efficiencies in construction, without having to compromise on quality.鈥�

The partnership chose Century after a competitive tender.

Its construction methods will enable core elements of the homes to be manufactured offsite 鈥� requiring half the time needed to build traditional masonry houses.

Ray Gibson, development director at Endeavour Housing Association, said: 鈥淭imber-frame construction not only enables us to build quickly, but also to improve housing quality and energy efficiency in a way that can鈥檛 be achieved through traditional construction methods.鈥�

Ian Prescott, development director and deputy chief executive of Nomad Housing Group, confirmed that the 300 homes were 鈥渉opefully the start鈥� of a long-term relationship with Century.

鈥淏y coming together as a consortium we were able to offer Century Homes a scale of business that in turn has allowed themto offer a very competitive price on a high-quality product.鈥�

Source

Housing Today