OFFSITE CONSTRUCTION
THE IMPORTANCE OF OFFSITE CONSTRUCTION IN A PANDEMIC In this article, David Harris, Managing Director of offsite construction specialist Premier Modular, looks at the role of offsite construction in the COVID-19 pandemic – from keeping construction moving to supporting the Government in the delivery of new housing to address homelessness. PREMIER MODULAR
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he impact of COVID-19 in the UK has been far-reaching and has challenged every aspect of our society and the country’s economy. In these incredibly difficult times, the offsite sector has most definitely switched up a gear – both to help the Government in its response to the crisis and to keep projects moving forward safely.
proves how offsite solutions can mitigate the effects of the restrictions imposed by COVID-19 and demonstrates how the approach can radically reduce risk on time-sensitive and fast-track projects. As a result, there has been a renewed focus on offsite manufacturing in every sector – from hospitals and schools to housing.
Social distancing in a factory setting
Helping the Government’s COVID-19 response
It has been well documented for many years that offsite construction offers improved safety, reduced risk and greater certainty of completion on time and budget. The fact that our factories continued to operate safely and at capacity from the very start of the pandemic is clear evidence of this. It is far easier to maintain COVID-safe social distancing in a controlled factory environment than on site – and reducing the number of people on a construction site is a significant advantage for contractors operating in a pandemic. Work continued on almost all Premier sites at every stage of the pandemic. This
The COVID-19 crisis has definitely shone a spotlight on the offsite sector. It has raised awareness of just what is possible with a higher level of collaboration, the use of offsite manufacturing, and pushing of boundaries to support the NHS and public health. There has been a genuine partnership working to deliver numerous healthcare projects to the most incredible timescales. An example of this is the Nightingale Hospital Exeter. The programme for this new 116-bed hospital was reduced from around 12 months to just 57 days. This could not have been achieved with a traditional contractual way of working.
FC&A – MARCH – 2021
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There was a tremendous ‘can-do’ attitude at every level – from the main contractor BAM to the modular specialist (Premier), fit-out and M&E specialists who all worked as one genuine team. The project involved conversion of a repurposed retail unit into a hospital which was doubled in size with the installation of 1700m 2 of modular buildings for facilities including the pharmacy, staff welfare, catering, utility rooms and patient transfer. The scale of this modular building project would typically have taken around four months from receipt of order to handover – but here was reduced to just four weeks.
COVID-19 test centre rollout The same partnership approach has been adopted for the rollout of the COVID-19 testing sites. Premier was awarded a multi-million-pound contract to deliver fully-serviced community testing centres across the UK, from Inverness to Portsmouth. We have brought together a range of suppliers to install up to three sites per week. The centres are often handed over just a week after receiving the initial notification, which is a phenomenal achievement. Each standalone test site has a 110m 2 purpose-designed testing building prefitted with eight patient cubicles, hygienic walls, separate staff entrance and exit, test collection, and drop-off zones, and a family testing room.
