Representatives from the Telegraph were scouting the halls of IfraExpo last week, speaking to press and mailroom manufacturers over possibilities for the site.

Manufacturers known to have been approached over the modernisation of Europe's largest newspaper printer include Muller Martini, MAN Roland and KBA.

The former managing director of Mirror Colour Print, Norman Walker, has been drafted in as a consultant on the project.

Sources close to the negotiations say that Telegraph Group owners the Barclay brothers and Express Newspapers owner Richard Desmond have reached an agreement over modernising the plant, which this year celebrates its 20th anniversary.

One source said: "It's going to be West Ferry. There's no deal imminent, and they haven't chosen any suppliers yet. But it's warming up."

The publishers' 50/50 joint venture at the site is officially due to end in 2009 and speculation they would abandon the plant for a greenfield site had been rife.

Both have previously announced press investment plans totalling 170m, but no firm plans for new presses have materialised and this year Desmond told a Sunday newspaper that the site's 18 Goss presses had at least another 10 years of shelf life.

However, Tower Hamlets Borough Council revealed plans to build a primary school, parkland, housing and healthcare facilities on the West Ferry site to cater for population growth in the Isle of Dogs.

Pre-press at the plant has already been overhauled with a massive installation of nine Agfa Polaris XCV-S CTP lines last year.

West Ferry factfile
Opened 1986
Location Isle of Dogs, London
Turnover 77m (2004)
Kit 18 Goss presses, nine Agfa CTP lines
Prints Financial Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Express, The Daily Star, The Sport and others

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