01 November 2012
Yorkon Awarded 1st Contract for its Revolutionary New Off-site Building System
Off-site construction specialist, Yorkon, has been awarded the first contract to be built using its revolutionary new building system. The scheme for Kier Construction will provide three two-storey curriculum wings for a new secondary school in the village of Cambourne in Cambridgeshire.
The 7,000 sqm project for Cambridgeshire County Council is the first new secondary school to be constructed in the county for 30 years, and is Yorkon's second scheme for Kier Construction.
The project will accommodate 750 pupils aged 11 to 16, helping to meet the growing demand for secondary school places following an increase in housing provision and rising birth rates in the area that are significantly higher than national trends.
Designed by Frank Shaw Associates and due for completion early Summer 2013, the project is embracing modern methods of construction to deliver the new school.
The use of off-site construction for the curriculum wings will help to reduce the programme time to just 35 weeks. A cross laminated timber structure will be used for the central core that accommodates the larger communal spaces such as the dining and sports halls and gym.
Commenting on the project, Simon Bates, Contracts Manager at Kier Construction, said "In order for the new building to be fully operational for the Council's deadline next year, the time available for construction was reduced. Taking an off-site approach for the project was the ideal solution, which allowed us to reduce the programme. This project follows the success of our work with Yorkon on a major healthcare scheme in Colchester, where we were impressed with the speed and quality of their building system."
The new Yorkon steel-framed building system will reduce the number of modules needed for the teaching areas by around half, to just 60 large 18m long units. This solution is more sustainable because it reduces the vehicle movements to site, there will be less cranage and less work on site. There will also be fewer internal columns to facilitate space planning.
Other improvements with the new building system include:
- Enhanced architectural detailing - the windows will have reveals and cills rather than openings that are flush with the face of the walls
- The use of the very latest open pour polyurethane insulation technology will deliver even better thermal performance and U values for lower running costs and reduced carbon emissions.
Each module will be delivered to site with a pre-installed concrete floor, further reducing work on site, improving quality control and providing a robust finish for a demanding secondary school environment.
The circulation areas open on to the central mall with no divisions between circulation zones to allow passive surveillance to reduce bullying and anti-social behaviour. The ends of the wings will be punctuated with full height stair towers and a balcony at first floor level serving as an additional outdoor space for each block.
The school will also feature:
- A series of sheltered courtyards to encourage outdoor learning
- A combination of timber cladding and dark brickwork to reflect the surrounding landscape and create a strong identity for the school. A rainscreen cladding system will be used for the teaching wings, punctuated by timber cladding
- Strong sustainability credentials - solar shading to reduce heat gain and the need for cooling; efficient building orientation; a heat recovery ventilation system; solar thermal collectors to provide hot water; a highly efficient building envelope to reduce heat loss; an air source pump to heat the hall spaces; high levels of natural light, and daylight presence detectors to automatically switch off lights
- Secure access for out-of-hours activities by closing off the curriculum wings.
The new Yorkon building system has been launched following a three-year development and testing programme which has included significant investment in state-of-the-art production facilities in York - now the most advanced facility of its kind in Europe.
This revolutionary system, which has thousands of configurations and permutations, offers the widest range of building modules currently available from any off-site manufacturer in the UK - giving architects, contractors and construction clients the unrivalled design flexibility to meet almost any building footprint.
For further information, call 0845 2000 123, email contact@yorkon.co.uk or to download literature about the new system, see www.yorkon.info/newsystem.
Editor's Notes
1. The new Yorkon building system incorporates a host of innovations such as:
- Columns that are no longer visible either internally or externally, for a seamless façade that can be specified with or without cladding
- The facility to fit any building footprint, including those designed for site-based construction - reducing architects' design time and resources
- Module lengths from 6m to 18.75m that give even greater flexibility and the option of using larger but fewer modules to reduce cranage, transport costs and site works
- Two module width options of 3m and 3.75m; three height options for single-storey buildings, and seven different heights for ground and intermediate floors on multi-storey schemes to facilitate linking to existing traditionally-constructed buildings.
2. Yorkon is part of the Portakabin Group.
