Guardian Newspapers (GNL) announced this morning that it is building a dedicated print plant, which will house two of the presses, at Bow Industrial Park in East London.

As first mooted by PrintWeek last November, the Guardian Print Centre will be managed by contract printer Newsfax, which is also based at Bow Industrial Park.

The move will take southern production of The Guardian and The Observer out of Docklands-based West Ferry. GNL has stated that the contract will not continue beyond January 2007.

The third press will be installed at Trafford Park Printers (TPP), which is jointly owned by Guardian Media Group (GMG) and the Telegraph Group.

GNL will invest a further 12m in Ferag finishing kit, Agfa CTP and Schur automated palletising.

The double-width, 10-tower Colorman presses will produce up to 160pp full colour straight at up to 90,000cph, with a cut-off of 470mm.

The new format for The Guardian and The Observer will be 470mm deep and 315mm wide.

Carolyn McCall, GNL chief executive, said: "This investment will enable us to publish the first of a new generation of full-colour newspapers.

"We will have the most modern presses in the newspaper industry, allowing us to produce better quality, more convenient, full-colour newspapers in an exciting format, never before seen in the UK market."

This morning's announcement follows a raft of investment from Guardian Media Group in its print sites.

In November last year, GMG and Trinity Mirror announced a joint investment of 45m at Trinity Mirror Print's (formerly Mirror Colour Print) Oldham site, which will print GMG's North Western regional titles including the Manchester Evening News.

The MEN's move out of TPP will make way for the new Colorman press.

A further 9m is being spent on upgrading the print capacity at GMG-owned Trader Media Group's Apple Web Offset plant in Warrington.

Story by Josh Brooks