Scottish housebuilder Stewart Milne has launched an acquisition drive in England with the aim of doubling its turnover to 拢600m by 2011.

The private firm, which earlier this month announced a 40% jump in profit to 拢28m on turnover of 拢283m, announced on Tuesday that it had bought the Manchester firm Nuttall Construction for an undisclosed sum.

Glenn Allison, Stewart Milne鈥檚 managing director, said the Aberdeen company had been planning its assault on England for the past two years.

鈥淭his is part of a structured plan for growth. We carried out research over the past two years and north-west England was our preferred option of the three areas that were identified,鈥� he said.

鈥淲e鈥檇 expect to double our turnover to around 拢600m within a five-year period. This growth will mainly come from new geographical growth.鈥�

Allison added that, after allowing Nuttall to 鈥渂ed in鈥� for six months, Stewart Milne would turn its attention to the other two areas identified by the firm鈥檚 research.

We carried out research over the past two years and north-west England was our preferred option

Glenn Allison, managing director

These are Yorkshire and Humberside and the M11 housing growth corridor from London to Peterborough.

He said the company had a list of 鈥減otential targets鈥� but that no talks had taken place.

Allison added that Stewart Milne would consider setting up its own operations in its target areas 鈥渋f we can鈥檛 find what we鈥檙e looking for there鈥�.

Nuttall currently builds 150 homes a year and employs 100 staff. Stewart Milne wants to grow this to 750 homes each year by 2010.