Timber-frame firm to create 220 jobs

AROUND 220 jobs are to be created at the expanding Griffner Coillte Ltd factory at Mullingar, Co Westmeath over the next 18 months to meet the growing demand for upmarket timber -frame houses.

Thirty people are currently employed by the company, a joint venture set up in September 2002 by an Austrian specialist manufacturer and the Irish forestry company. The parent Austrian company, GriffnerHaus AG is a major supplier to the Austrian, Italian, Swiss and German markets.

Timber-framed houses account for about 20% of the 50,000 housing units built in Ireland each year. Most other timber-frame systems here use traditional masonry on top of the structural frame of the building. However, Griffner Coillte walls are fully manufactured at the factory in a carefully- controlled environment and the firm claims its product cuts energy consumption by 40-50% compared with an equivalent masonry house.