Insider Media Limited

Southam-based construction company Alumet is planning a rapid expansion across the Midlands to achieve a £50m turnover by 2013. Speaking to Insider, founder and managing director Gary Summers said the company planned to create 50 jobs in the next year and revealed it was looking to expand into an additional 40,000 sq ft site in the Midlands.

Summers said the company was bucking the trend within the construction industry with plans to expand on every level.

The business, which provides the external façade for buildings across the UK, currently turns over £27m a year and is aiming to increase that figure to £50m in the next two years.

Summers told Insider: "As a company, we're always looking outside the box, and are not averse to taking risks. You have to invest in the future and look further than the next few years. Over the next 12 months, we're going to be employing at least another 40 to 50 people her in Warwickshire - it's an exciting time for the business.

"We've seen a big opportunity in the renewables sector and invested about £500,000 in new stock, and we've become a wholesaler. We're also hopeful of landing one of the biggest solar farm projects in the UK, which could be worth about £2.5m."

He said the company, which has four offices throughout the UK, had been looking at expanding onto an additional site.

"We're looking at a 40,000 sq ft facility to expand into as the business grows. It's in the Midlands, and would be in addition to our other offices in Warwickshire, Halesowen and Leeds."

Alumet, which was recently awarded a Queen’s Award for Innovation for its bomb-blast resistant walling system, said it was also open to the possibility of acquisitions.

"There are a couple of companies we're interested in – but nothing is concrete and we can't really say much about them," said Summers.

However, he did say that the construction industry was facing a tough year ahead.

"It will continue to be difficult, and margins will continue to be squeezed down. There will more victims. I think a lot of companies in the industry are facing the same problems – people delaying payments and holding up jobs. With the collapse of big names like Rok came a lot of causalities – it will take the industry a long time to fully recover."