More demanding regulatory requirements such as health and safety regulations, energy efficiency and acoustics standards are often difficult to satisfy using traditional, on-site forms of construction.
Reduced local impacts
The key feature of off-site fabrication is that much of the process is removed from the site to controlled factory conditions.
- reduces the amount of time spent on site
- reduced impacts on the locality
- locality around the site is disrupted for a shorter period reducing noise, pollution emissions and local traffic disruption
- smaller foundations and therefore less groundworks
- reduced local disruption from moving spoil away from the site
- shorter construction period allows a quicker return on investment for the client, and reduced overheads.
Reduced levels of defects
A building site exposed to the British climate does not offer particularly good working conditions for high quality workmanship.
- factory based activities allow better and safer working conditions
- improved quality of workmanship
- improved quality control procedures with testing, prototyping and checking
- reduced call backs after completion of buildings
- significant cost and efficiency benefit leads to satisfied customers
- improves efficiency in the use of resources and reduces waste
Less waste in manufacture
Waste from construction is one of the principle waste streams to landfill sites, leading to at least 70 million tonnes of waste per annum in the UK. It has also been estimated that about 13% of materials delivered to site are never used but go straight into the waste stream.
- Manufacture in a factory allows far better management of the waste stream
- Materials can be used more efficiently, exact amounts of materials can be ordered and materials can be more carefully stored
- any waste that occurs in the factory can be more easily collected and reused or recycled
- reduces the costs of disposal of waste.
Health and Safety
Construction work on site can be a dangerous activity and lead to significant numbers of casualties and even fatalities. Off-site manufacturing allows much of the process to be carried out in more controlled and comfortable factory conditions where safety requirements can be more easily met and policed, and healthy and comfortable working conditions are more readily maintained.
Improved environmental performance
Good thermal and acoustic performance is dependent on the quality of workmanship and supervision. The correct installation of the elements of the fabric, in particular insulation materials and air barriers, are important to the performance of the building in use. Factory manufacture allows operatives to be better trained and supervised in these tasks, and allows regular checking and testing of performance.
Improved working conditions
Employment at a factory manufacturing prefabricated building components is generally more stable and long term than site based employment. With a more stable workforce we are able to provide long term training programmes, essential to function efficiently with the high levels of skill required of off-site fabrication.
Greater efficiency in the use of resources, both materials and labour
Many of the materials used in our construction, such as the steel or timber framing, can be extracted for recycling at the end of the life of the module. This is made easier by the lightweight, dry construction methods we use.
Transport
Research has shown that deliveries during a volumetric construction project can be reduced by up to 90% compared to a similar traditional building project. Our well-managed sites significantly reduce the amount of traffic generated during construction