Triple M Housing is expanding their manufacturing operation with the opening a new wing at the west end of the plant. Herald photo by David Rossiter

Dave Mabell
LETHBRIDGE HERALD
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It's busy times for Alberta's home builders. And one of the biggest, Triple M Housing in Lethbridge, is expanding to meet the demand.
Contractors are completing work on a 43,000-square-foot addition to Triple M's new modular home plant on the city's northside. It's being built in response to the popularity of the company's drywall option for new homes.
The extra space, boosting the facility to about 165,000 square feet, will allow Triple M staff to complete drywall installation more efficiently. Ron Angyal, the company's vice-president of operations, says Triple M dealers are selling many drywall models across Alberta and Saskatchewan.
The affordable housing market in Saskatoon is particularly strong, he says. But Angyal says orders for the Lethbridge-built homes are coming from many locations.
"We've been really busy for at least 18 to 20 months now," he says.
About 335 men and women work at the huge plant on Giffen Road North in the Sherring business and industrial park.
The drywall designs are an alternative to the vinyl wall coverings that have been used in modular construction for many years. Photos of current models are shown on the company's website, www.triplemhousing.com.
The company's latest development, Angyal says, is designs for ready-to-move homes up to 30 feet wide. They'll be available locally through a dealer on Mayor Magrath Drive South.
Triple M also builds two-storey homes, many of them in the 18- to 22-foot range. Its larger projects have also included modular hotels, condominiums, townhouses and apartments.
The northside plant was built after a disastrous fire in 2007 levelled a Second World War hangar at Lethbridge County Airport, where operations had begun in 1981. The business - originally known as Alma Homes, then later as Triple E - had grown to occupy several of the aging wooden structures.