Century Homes to create 300 new jobs

THE country’s largest timber-frame house manufacturer is to create hundreds of jobs in a €5m investment in the Midlands and south east.

Tánaiste Mary Harney will announce 300 new jobs at Century Homes, half of them at a new plant in Tullamore, Co Offaly, a town hit badly by closures in recent years.

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment confirmed an announcement was imminent but would not reveal details.

Century Homes is the largest timber-frame house manufacturer in Ireland and Britain, with bases in Monaghan, Longford and Dungarvan.

While half of the jobs will be created in Tullamore, the company’s existing plants will also benefit.

Pat McAuley, president of the town’s Chamber of Commerce, welcomed the news, but said that it was only the start and did not make up for significant losses over the last two years.

These job losses include the closure of Lowe Alpine in 2001, with the loss of 220 jobs, and 370 redundancies at Flextronics last year.

Mr McAuley said: “The jobs are very much needed. In the past couple of years there have been a significant number of job losses, so any announcement is very welcome.”

It’s the first announcement for some time, the Chamber president said.

“We are very grateful but would like to keep the pressure on to follow through with others. It’s a good start but we want to attract more jobs, maybe in the high-value medical technology or pharmaceutical fields.”

Century Homes, founded more than 40 years ago, has been involved in many different building projects, from hospitals to large-scale housing developments, apartments and hotels.

According to the expansion plans, Century Homes will be doubling its workforce in Dungarvan and Longford and introducing a new 24-hour shift at its plant in Monaghan.

The expansion will also see the construction of a manufacturing unit at Tullamore’s SRAH Industrial Estate.

There has been mixed news on the job front in recent weeks. Two weeks ago, it was announced that 380 jobs are to be created at a pharmaceutical plant in north Dublin.

That followed the previous week’s closure, with the loss of 250 jobs, of the nearby Celestica plant.