Alfred McAlpine\'s Welsh Slate business has opened a new £6million factory at their UK headquarters at Penrhyn Quarry in north Wales and a showroom just outside Brussels in Belgium.

The showroom is a key element of the company\'s expansion, development and diversification plans for Europe in an area appropriate to serve Belgium, Holland and France, which are already established users of Welsh slate. Back in Wales, the new factory is equipped with Pedrini saws, including six primaries and two, big multi-blade secondaries. There are three finishing lines, which include flame texturing to create the traditional look of slate tiles that has until now been created by hand splitting. There is also robotic handling and packaging.

Chris Law, the managing director, says the development will not result in redundancies. "We are in a fortunate situation in that the aggregates and architectural businesses are growing quite quickly, so a lot of people will move over to that," he told NSS. The investment was not about improving profitability by reducing the workforce, but by reducing waste, he said.