The order will consist of 263 printing couples split between the group''s printing sites at West Ferry in London and Trafford Park in Manchester.

"We have shaken hands on a deal," said Jeremy Deedes, managing director of The Telegraph Group. He would not reveal the value of the deal but said it "makes the eyes water".

"The need to upgrade is driven partly by the age of our existing presses but primarily by the need for more colour. To do the sort of job we require for The Daily Telegraph, quality is right at the top of the list," he added. "The presses have to be terrifically robust to put up with a good hammering."

The Mainstream was chosen over presses from most of Heidelberg''s competitors, said Deedes. "I felt very confident after meeting the Heidelberg people," he added. "Where we had some reservations they managed to set our minds at rest. With any new installation there''s an element of risk, no one will replicate others."

"Drupa was an opportunity to see the thing in action. There is nothing like seeing a press at work."

The order is the result of over three years of planning, and Deedes didn''t expect installations to be completed until 2003. The two Trafford Park presses will be the first to go in from Spring 2001. "That will enable us to transfer some of the West Ferry printing and start the process of decommissioning the presses there," said Deedes.

The two sites print 1.1m copies of The Daily Telegraph and 820,000 copies of The Sunday Telegraph. West Ferry will install five of the presses, one of which will run up to ten webs. Two additional presses, each featuring ten towers, will be configured with adjacent four-tower presses.

Both presses to be installed at Trafford Park will feature the ten-tower and four-tower combination. The order will also include 52 FD pasters and seven JF-255 jaw folders.

Story by Gordon Carson