16 February 2015
Increased Demand for Off-site Construction from Major Contractors
The Portakabin Group is seeing a significant increase in demand for its Yorkon off-site construction solutions from the UK's leading building and civil engineering contractors.
According to the Portakabin Group, the biggest issue for contractors is the reduction of risk - how to minimise the possibility of budget overruns and delays, accidents on site, and mitigate the impact of a volatile labour market.
Recent research from Aecom has shown that up to a third of bidding opportunities are turned down if projects are deemed to be too high risk.
Serious skills shortages are now being predicted for the construction industry. The loss of thousands of skilled jobs through the economic downturn has left the sector struggling to attract new talent to meet the recent surge in construction activity. The situation is set to worsen when construction work starts on HS2 which will need a monthly average total workforce estimated at more than 11,000*.
A new report published by the London Chamber of Commerce and KPMG has also highlighted a labour and skills shortfall of up to 20 per cent for London and the South East to deliver projects already planned for 2015-17.
Off-site construction can radically reduce risk for contractors on a number of levels:
- The approach has been proven to deliver much greater cost and contract certainty and consistent delivery on programme. The Portakabin Group, for example, has completed 99.7 per cent of its projects on time and on budget for more than a decade.
- The Portakabin Group has a retained and highly skilled workforce, significantly reducing the reliance on subcontracted labour, which helps to address the skills shortages and geographical volatility in the labour market that can impact on major contractors.
- By working in an engineering environment, maximising work off site and avoiding work at height, the Portakabin Group has had zero major injuries on Yorkon sites for the last five years.
Yorkon off-site building solutions reduce programme times by up to 50 per cent. This is an important benefit for contractors needing to achieve a watertight building envelope for earlier fitting out, thereby reducing time on site and all the associated costs.
These programme reductions and off-site working can also facilitate projects on the critical path of a much larger scheme. Recent applications of this approach include two healthcare buildings at Royal Sussex County Hospital which are crucial to unlocking the space for Laing O'Rourke to proceed with the main hospital redevelopment, and a number of track-side buildings which formed part of the £54m Reading Train Care Depot for main contractor VolkerFitzpatrick.
Simon Ambler, Director of the Portakabin Group, comments, "We are experiencing a clear sea change across the construction industry. Off-site solutions are now being recognised as a mainstream method of building. And when clients and contractors visit our completed buildings, they are blown away with the build quality we are achieving on every project."
"There is now much better understanding across the industry of the benefits of off-site solutions and the concept of moving the construction process into a controlled factory environment holds considerable appeal to contractors and clients, particularly on constrained and challenging sites - whether track-side rail, high security nuclear or fully operational hospital and school sites."
"The advantages to contractors and the reductions in risk that off-site construction can bring are clear. We are able to offer much greater assurance of completion on time and on budget - and our unprecedented performance figures over the last 10 years, reaffirm this. As part of a privately-owned, financially-sound building group, we have a highly skilled, permanent workforce and a robust, long-established supply chain in place that is not affected by fluctuations in the labour market, particularly in London and the South East."
"We are also being appointed for more projects where there is a need to move elements and enabling works for a wider scheme off the critical path in order to start on site in other areas."
Yorkon off-site solutions from the Portakabin Group have been used extensively by Kier for health and education projects, by Interserve and other Procure21 supply chain partners on many NHS projects; by contractors involved in infrastructure such as in the rail, utility and nuclear sectors, and on multiple projects to expand teaching accommodation in primary and secondary schools.
Yorkon modular buildings use advanced off-site technology to offer unparalleled design flexibility and precision engineering in factory conditions for improved quality. The approach has strong sustainability credentials; the buildings are thermally efficient, and are delivered with far less disruption on site.
For further information about Yorkon off-site building solutions from the Portakabin Group, call 0845 2000 123, email contact@yorkon.co.uk or see www.yorkon.info.
Editor's Notes
1. *Source: University of Dundee/CITB/Experian
2. Yorkon and the Portakabin Group are registered trademarks. Portakabin is a registered trademark which must only be used to refer to modular buildings that are known to have been manufactured by the Portakabin Group. Please note, Portakabin is not a generic term.
