17 January 2013
Portakabin Invests in its Largest and Most Sustainable Hire Centre to Date
Portakabin, the UK's leading modular building specialist, has invested £3m in its largest and most sustainable hire and visitor's centre to date.
The development at Isleport Business Park near Bridgwater in Somerset has doubled the size of its previous centre in the area and is part of the company's continued expansion despite the challenging economic conditions.
This latest investment follows the recent completion of a £6m manufacturing facility in York for the brand new Portakabin building system - another important milestone for the company.
Portakabin has had a strong local presence in the Bridgwater area for more than 20 years. The new site spans around five acres and accommodates a state-of-the-art operational and production centre to serve businesses and public sector customers in the South West and South Wales.
Commenting on the new development, Robert Snook, Director and General Manager of Portakabin Hire, said, "The demand for our interim accommodation solutions has continued to grow in this area. This expansion will enable us to service the needs of local businesses more effectively and the requirements of major projects such as the proposed nuclear power station development at Hinkley Point."
"The new hire centre will allow us to increase the availability of buildings from stock to customers in the South West, to offer the highest levels of service, and for visitors to see and experience the quality of our full range of buildings at first hand."
"We have ambitious plans to grow the business and to investing locally, and the team we have in place, together with the new facilities, are central to that."
Strategically located near Bristol and Taunton and with excellent transport links via the M5, the Bridgwater Hire Centre has a newly completed two-storey Portakabin office building on the site which has been designed to showcase the quality of modular accommodation and a number of specification options.
The centre has increased in size to more than 19,000 sqm to allow more buildings for hire to be kept in stock and reconfigured, refurbished and refitted on site if required. There is a new visitor's centre displaying the full range of Portakabin buildings, from the Portakabin Solus self-contained office building up to Titan - Europe's largest single modular building, and Portaloo toilets, showers and changing rooms.
There are also display areas for the integrated options available, including canopies and walkways, branding and building wraps, climate control and security systems, access ramps and steps, and data communications.
The Bridgwater Hire Centre is the most sustainable Portakabin Hire Centre in the UK and its construction was designed to minimise any impact on the environment. Initiatives included:
- No waste was generated in the construction of the new centre
- A self-draining surface to avoid local flooding and to take overflow water in extreme weather conditions
- A site layout to minimise lorry movements
- Landscaping to meet the needs of local residents
- Footpaths on the boundary of the site have been linked to benefit the local community
- An energy-efficient office building with good thermal performance.
Portakabin offers a wide range of buildings for both interim and permanent applications and has the widest hire network in the UK. It can deliver bespoke projects and standardised accommodation solutions in the most challenging timescales, with less disruption and less impact on the environment.
For further information about modular buildings for interim and permanent applications, visit www.portanews.co.uk, email information@portakabin.co.uk or call 0845 401 0010.
Editor's Notes
1. Portakabin modular buildings offer a wide range of advantages over site-based construction, such as:
- Highly flexible and innovative accommodation solutions, such as Ultima Vision - a fully glazed modular building, and Titan - the largest single modular building in Europe
- Enhanced quality and a robust steel-framed construction
- Buildings manufactured to engineering rather than construction tolerances
- A wide variety of aesthetic and fitting out options to reduce procurement time.
2. Portakabin, Ultima, Ultima Vision, Portaloo, Portakabin Solus and Titan are registered trademarks.
