Posts

Building for builders

,

Paul Gouland, Marketing Director at Clugston Construction, explores the design and build of Leeds College of Building’s new state-of-the-art campus development, and explains how it was delivered successfully through the YORbuild2 regional framework.

Leeds College of Building has built an exceptional reputation for first-class further education on construction, educating future construction professionals since 1960, and offering over 200 courses across a huge range of disciplines. So, when the college set about ambitious plans for a brand-new £13m campus development in Leeds’s South Bank, they knew only an exemplary build would do.

Using the YORbuild2 Contractors Framework to quickly procure its delivery team, Clugston Construction and architectural practice Fuse Studios were appointed, and immediately set about planning the complex logistics and timetable to deliver the whole project.

With such a challenging build programme, and in order to achieve the high standards that Leeds College of Building required, Clugston knew that a collaborative approach with the College was fundamental to seamlessly deliver a comprehensive scheme within tight timescales. By engaging with the client and design team from the early stages of the scheme, Clugston Construction have built a close relationship with the College and design team to ensure effective communication is maintained throughout the building phase.

Supported by an £11.9m grant through the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) growth deal, the state-of-the-art building, which is located alongside the College’s existing South Bank campus, will consist of a 5,200m2 four-storey building with a range of classrooms, workshops and technical support areas.

At the heart of the new facility sits an imposing full height atrium which splits the facility in two clear areas, with the workshops located on one side of the building and the classroom areas situated on the other. Topped with a pair of polyester powder coated (PPC) aluminium framed glazed roof lights, which flood the facilities with natural light, this creates a stunning central space which houses a café and student meeting areas.

A glazed balcony running around the perimeter overlooking the central area maintains an open airy feel, allowing access to the classrooms, meeting rooms and technical workshops on the upper level. In keeping with the desire to create an open and bright atmosphere throughout the College, the design also incorporates full height windows, highlighted by bright green aluminium surrounds, throughout the building.

Externally, the building combines striking grey anodized profile aluminium curtain walling to give the facility a modern look, and complementary grey and red brickwork to maintain the historic architectural elements of the surrounding city.

High-quality materials have been utilised throughout the build, with the roof over the classroom area made up of a single ply membrane over ridged insulated VCC metal decking and purlins, whilst the workshop roof is constructed using a Kingspan KS1000RW composite system featuring aluminium framed north lights.

Constructed with a lightweight steel frame, the result of team wide collaboration, floors are formed using a composite metal deck with an in-situ cast concrete slab. Meanwhile the two lift towers are formed using precast concrete units, which sit within the steel frame.

A number of innovative features are also included internally to enhance the teaching experience for pupils. Specially constructed building pods are situated within the workshop areas. Used to teach plumbing and mechanical and electrical (M&E), the pods are designed to replicate the construction of a typical timber frame building. A number of bespoke pods, with specially installed extract systems, have also been mounted to teach welding skills in a safe environment for pupils.

As well as tight delivery timescales, to meet the start of the 2019 academic year, practical considerations in terms of the build also had to be taken into account.

Situated on a tight parcel of land just off the centre of Leeds, and surrounded by a network of busy roads, considerable thought had to be given to the delivery of the major components and materials.

The College is situated on made up ground which was formerly occupied by industrial process facilities including part of the famous Tetley Brewery. Consequently, developing stable ground conditions for the foundations was an essential requirement. To achieve this, Clugston introduced a number of innovative techniques, including both Rapid Impact Compaction and Dynamic Ground Stabilisation which quickly prepared the terrain. This mitigated the need for piling – delivering cost and programme value engineering savings during the pre-construction stage.

The construction and refurbishment of educational facilities can pose significant challenges for the schools, colleges, universities, and construction companies alike. However, at Leeds College of Building, Clugston Construction has demonstrated how a collaborative approach can help deliver projects to meet key term dates and budgets.

Following the project delivery, Clugston now offers added value by supporting the College’s students by providing technical presentations on construction subjects from health and safety planning to building services, as well as organising visits to other construction sites.

For more information, visit www.clugston.co.uk
/0 Comments/by

Modular Vs. Traditional Construction

The traditional method of construction has for a long time, been the accepted norm.

A graduated approach, the process of building using the traditional method is steady progress. Foundations are laid, walls are built, roofs are added. And then the interior of the building is created. And finally, before being handed over to the customer, the snag list is completed – all those small issues and tasks that need altering.

And only then is the building complete.

Modular Building – The New Construction Method

Modular building changes everything about construction from halving the time it takes to construct a building, to changing attitudes.

Modular building techniques save time and money. As the foundations for a new building are laid, construction on the building itself, in a factory setting with skilled craftspeople, has already begun. This tandem working halves the time it takes to finish a building.

Before the building is delivered to site, the snag list is completed at the factory. Literally, the building in transported, fixed in place and the keys handed over.

Who Benefits?

Everyone. And the environment does too, with less waste and increase in the use of sustainable materials.

The pace of the turnaround means the customer has the extension or extra buildings they need quickly, but without compromising on quality. In terms of budget, there are no dead spots in the process either. No weeks on end without being able to use your buildings, while materials are waited for and so on.

Domestic and commercial customers are realising the benefits of modular construction. For some clients, the solutions on offer can’t come quick enough. For the medical industry, for example, modular construction means more room, and fast. It also means investing in additional space that can house specialised equipment and process too, without a hefty price tag.

Modular_Construction_vs_Traditional_Construction_v2-min

Courtesy of www.mtxcontracts.co.uk.

/0 Comments/by

Legal & General unveils turn-key modular housing prototype

Legal & General (L&G) has revealed its first turn-key modular housing prototype as it continues to drive the evolution of the housing sector to help tackle the UK’s long term chronic production problem.

Located outside its 550,000 sq ft factory in Selby, near Leeds, the prototype is a two-storey, two-bedroom home. Exploring a range of designs, L&G expects to deliver its first homes in the first half of next year. The Leeds site is building the capacity to produce thousands of homes per year across 8 production lines, employing several hundred local people.

Modular building is quicker and more efficient than traditional house building, delivering homes in a matter of weeks rather than years to consistently high standards. This is achieved by building precision-engineered homes in a factory environment, ensuring accuracy of build, in dry controlled conditions, using state of the art methods and materials. The manufacturing process is highly energy efficient and will be carried out by a stable trained workforce. Constructing the homes from Cross Laminated Timber (CLT), delivers further environmental benefits by storing 1 tonne of CO2 in every m3 of CLT used in the construction of each home. This ensures an economically viable and sustainable solution to deliver much needed capacity for the industry.

Rosie Toogood, CEO of L&G Modular, commented: “The unveiling our first prototype today marks an exciting and important step in our programme to bring modular homes constructed from CLT to market. This prototype demonstrates the high quality of our modular solutions debunking preconceptions of modular housing. At full production, homes like this will be delivered repeatedly in a matter of weeks without the snagging issues faced by traditional methods.

“L&G has a long heritage in providing housing in the UK and sees modular construction as a natural evolution and extension of its position in this market. Modular construction is set to revolutionise the house building sector bringing new materials along with methods and processes used in industries, such as car-making to raise productivity and help to address the UK’s chronic shortfall of new homes.”

L&G has been involved in housing activities for nearly 20 years including: through its stake in CALA Homes; delivering a 1,000 home scheme in Crowthorne through its own house building arm, Legal & General Homes; and investing in a new institutional Build to Rent product. Legal & General more broadly is a significant investor in housing including social housing and student accommodation; and it is bringing housing back to the centre of the UK’s cities through large scale mixed-use urban regeneration schemes.

/0 Comments/by

Boost for Modular Buildings and Education

The prospects for capital investment in the education sector have received a boost as the shift towards modular buildings takes another step forward with a national £225 million framework going live this month (June).

Fusion21 has appointed nine companies to its Education Modular Buildings Framework, which will run for the next four years (Project ID: 17062841).

Councils, academies, colleges and universities can all access the framework, which is split into four lots. Wernick is the biggest winner after landing the role of sole supplier in lots three and four covering modular construction work valued at £750,000 or more.

Andy King, Wernick’s managing director, says that modular construction can reduce spending and build time by 50%. “Despite the many benefits the method offers, modular has long suffered from an image problem when it comes to classrooms,” writes Mr King on the company’s blog. “Historic perceptions of box-like demountable classrooms, with low quality finishes, can obscure the image of what modern day modular can achieve.”

The framework is a positive indicator for companies working on modular buildings and a boost for the wider education sector, which has suffered a number of setbacks in recent years.

A 2010 decision taken by the newly elected coalition government to cancel the £55 billion Building Schools for the Future Programme (BSF) programme put in place by the previous Labour administration led to more than 700 school projects being cancelled.

Austerity measures put in place by the subsequent Conservative government have not helped workload, particularly through local authority investment. Glenigan’s research shows that after rising by 20% in 2015, the underlying value of education projects starting on site slumped 3% last year.

Workloads suffered in England in particular with heavy falls in the underlying value of starts in the North East, West Midlands and Yorkshire and Humberside.

There are few indications of any improvement. In the quarter to April 2017, the underlying value of education projects starting on site slumped by 29% according to Glenigan’s research and there is little sign of more work materialising in the pipeline.

In the quarter to April 2017, the underlying value of education projects given planning approval contracted by 12% and the fall over the past year is even larger at 17%. As a result, Glenigan is forecasting a 7% fall in education starts for 2017.

These economic trends make greater strides towards more modular building in the education sector all the more important.

After BSF was ditched, contractor Laing O’Rourke and consultant Atkins developed a plan for a modular school capable of holding 1,300 pupils, which at £14.3 million was £6 million cheaper than an equivalent school under BSF.<

In December 2016, this partnership, Select Schools, delivered a 1,200-pupil secondary school in Manchester, Dean Trust Ardwick High School, in a record 12 months.

Richard Johnston, an architectural associate at Atkins, explained “By using offsite technology, we were not only able to drastically reduce construction time, we were able to minimise waste and work within a heavily constrained site. Construction of the school could begin in the factory before site clearance and demolitions were complete. All of this was achieved without compromising the integrity of the teaching and learning environments.”

/0 Comments/by

First modular homes to be built by a housing association land in Coventry

The first modular homes to be built by housing association Midland Heart have landed in Coventry.

The four, three-bedroom properties on ‘Modular Mews’ in Foleshill are part of a pilot scheme delivered in partnership with developers Central Site and Coventry City Council.

Work on the scheme started toward the end of 2016 and during one weekend in February all four homes were craned in after being built off-site at a factory in Nuneaton. Construction of the development was completed within six weeks.

Midland Heart’s Director for Development, Chris Miller said “It’s been an incredibly interesting journey as we prepared the site and watched all four homes being built in just a couple of days.

“Modular homes are just one of the options we are exploring to deal with the effects of the housing crisis and are part of our commitment to build 2000 new homes across the Midlands over the next five years.”

The properties have been built to an incredibly high standard of both design and environmental sustainability making them cost-effective to run and maintain.

Each property includes amongst other amenities an externally fitted electric car charging port and walls that can be removed so properties can be easily adapted.

Brian Maunder at Central Site said “It was a pleasure to work with Midland Heart on delivering the first modular homes in Coventry, the first of many.”

/0 Comments/by

Heathrow moves to revolutionise UK construction industry

  • Heathrow to use £16bn expansion to push growth in off-site construction in UK
  • In a first for a major infrastructure project, Heathrow invites communities across Britain to showcase why their area should host one of four new off-site logistics hubs
  • New logistics hubs key to Heathrow’s plans to build as much off-site as possible, making the project more affordable and environmentally sustainable while driving growth across Britain
  • Research reveals growth in the sector could boost Britain’s construction industry by up to £15bn outside London by 2020 alone

In a shake-up of the UK construction industry, Heathrow announced it would use its £16bn expansion project to revolutionise the way Britain builds major infrastructure.

Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye announced that the airport would be making a major push to support more off-site construction in the UK as it begins to deliver its expansion plans for Britain – a move designed to boost productivity and help rebalance the economy. The announcement comes as new research from economic consultancy WPI Economics revealed growth in the sector could lead to a £15bn boost for the construction industry outside London by 2020 alone.

Speaking to council leaders and representatives from the construction industry, Heathrow kicked-off the hunt for four UK sites to host the new off-site logistics hubs which will help deliver its expansion programme and drive growth across Britain.

Heathrow’s new logistics hubs will pre-assemble components of the expanded airport before transporting them in consolidated loads to Heathrow. By not building everything on-site at one of the world’s busiest airports, the logistics hub will play a key role in supporting the project’s efficient delivery, will make the project more affordable and will reduce emissions by transporting assembled components to site in fewer lorries. The new logistics hubs will also spread the jobs created from the project across more communities in every corner of the UK.

While off-site construction has enjoyed some success in the construction of homes – reducing costs by up to 25% and speeding up project delivery by 30% – the approach has had a limited role supporting major infrastructure projects. With Heathrow expansion set to be one of Britain’s largest infrastructure projects, the airport is aiming to drive a step-change in Britain’s construction industry and give Britain a leading-edge in an untapped new sector that can then be leveraged to support other major projects around the world.

Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said “The global construction industry is set to be worth £15 trillion by 2025 – that’s a huge prize that Britain deserves a bigger share of and Heathrow can help.

“We want to use Heathrow expansion to not only upgrade Britain’s infrastructure, but cultivate a new world-leading sector and drive growth across the whole country. Boosting off-site construction will help make expansion more affordable and environmentally friendly and give Britain a lasting legacy of expertise that it can sell around the world – helping Britain lead the pack in global construction.”

In a first for a major infrastructure project, Heathrow is inviting communities across Britain to showcase why their area is suitable to host one of the new logistics hubs. Suitable locations will have good connectivity, access to a relevant supply chain and strong local skills. Interested applicants should click here to register their interest and complete Expression of Interest questionnaire before 31st July 2017. All applications will be considered by Heathrow and a list of potential sites is expected to be announced later this year.

/0 Comments/by

VIDEO: The first residential house has been printed!

Whilst plans were released last year, Apis Cor company have now successfully finished the residential house printing project (built in Stupino town, Moscow region) using mobile 3D printing technology.

In December 2016, the Apis Cor company in cooperation with PIK proceeded to print the building using a mobile 3D printer. Construction took place at the Apis Cor company’s test facility in the town of Stupino, on the territory of the Stupino aerated concrete factory. Printing of self-bearing walls, partitions and building envelope were done in less than a day: pure machine time of printing amounted to 24 hours.

After completing the wall structures, the printer was removed from the building with a crane-manipulator. The overall area area of the printed building is 38 m².

According to their website, construction is based on Apis Cor’s unique 3D printing technology. A distinctive feature of the printer is its design, which is reminiscent of the tower crane, allowing the printer to execute the printing process of constructing the building both inside and outside.

The printer is small in size, easily transportable and does not require long preparation before the commencement of the construction works because it has a built-in automatic horizon alignment and stabilization system.

The printing process itself is automated as much as possible to eliminate the risk of human error.

On the inside the printed house is no different from a conventionally built home — cozy and comfortable. The interior comprises a hall, a bathroom, a living room and a compact functional kitchen.

The construction cost of the printed house amounted to approximately £8100, which is around £220 per square meter. The cost of the building is surprisingly low, considering the unusual design of the building and the premium quality of the materials specified. Even more impressively, this cost also includes all the works that were done to make a complete house – such as work and materials for the construction of foundation, roof, exterior and interior finishing works, installation of heat insulation of walls, windows, floors and ceilings.

Watch the video below:

/0 Comments/by

Offsite construction expected to feature in Housing White Paper

Communities Secretary Sajid Javid will set out the details of the housing White Paper in a statement to MPs today. The Minister admitted that the current market is “broken” and if we are to fix it we need to consider modern methods of construction such as offsite and modular.

Javid’s speech intends to highlight the need for more homes (at least 250,000 new homes each year) as a matter of priority. Over the weekend Housing Minister Gavin Barwell admitted that the government were currently behind schedule on its goal of building one million new homes in England by 2020.

When unveiling the paper, Javid will say: “Walk down your local high street today and there’s one sight you’re almost certain to see. Young people, faces pressed against the estate agent’s window, trying and failing to find a home they can afford.

“With prices continuing to skyrocket, if we don’t act now, a whole generation could be left behind. We need to do better, and that means tackling the failures at every point in the system.

“The housing market in this country is broken and the solution means building many more houses in the places that people want to live.”

In an interview with BBC Radio 4, the Communities Secretary also indicated the need for a shift in focus on increasing home ownership, an ambition of most post-war Conservative governments. He said “It is a false choice. The reality is we need more homes, whether to rent or buy.”

The White Paper is expected to contain the following measures for meeting demand:

  • A £3bn fund will allow housing associations and councils to fully utilise the skills and facilities of smaller building firms, including support for modern methods of construction, such as modular and offsite
  • Councils will be required to provide the government with an up-to-date plan for housing demand
  • The delivery time for housing will reduced from three to two years between planning permission being submitted and construction works beginning
  • Green Belt is expected to be protected, only to be built on in exceptional circumstances
More on this following the release of the paper later today.
/0 Comments/by

Going retro: A shrewd solution to the UK’s housing crisis

Home is a vitally important place for everyone. So it is a sad state of affairs to think that at the moment more than 6 million people in the UK will never be able to buy their own home. And with a massive 1.2 million people currently hanging around on housing waiting lists, something must be done.

The UK’s housing crisis is a stark, cold reality for many Britons who simply cannot afford to buy their own home. Since 1996 real house prices have increased by a whopping 151%, while real earnings have only gone up by a quarter of that figure, according to the Redfern Review. And as a result of unaffordable housing, rising prices and sheer lack of adequate accommodation, many families are finding themselves placed in temporary lodging.

So what can be done?

Addressed in the last Autumn Statement, the government plans to invest £3.7bn into building a further 140,000 homes by 2020, in order to ease the housing issue.

However, this is a tall order to achieve within the space of four short years. So how is the government planning to tackle this and meet its promise?

A blast from the past

In order to build the huge quantity of homes targeted by the close of the decade and at the budget set aside, ministers plan to roll out a new wave of prefabs.

As the first prefabs were the solution to the UK’s housing shortage following the devastation of war in the 1940s, a second wave could be the solution to our current crisis. With over 100,000 prefabricated homes planned across the country, it looks like construction is set to go retro.

Unfortunately, prefabricated housing carries negative connotations for some, who associate it with cheap, temporary and ugly. However, modern modular design has developed considerably over the past 70 years and today’s prefab homes are high quality, contemporary and built to last. Prefabs can be posh.

Modern modular buildings have many other enviable benefits over a traditional brick and block build, such as being more energy efficient, eco-friendly and affordable.

Faster construction, reduced cost

With the cost of construction having dramatically increased over the last five years, the building of brick and block homes carries ever increasing expenses. However, as prefabricated buildings are constructed off-site, costs can be more accurately predicted.

A prefabricated house could cost as much as 40% less than the same building built of brick.

Modular homes are also considerably quicker to construct. An off-site build is not only more cost-effective, but much more efficient. A prefabricated building is less susceptible to potential delays, due to bad weather or shortage of labour, and has more chance of meeting deadlines.

Once manufactured, a modular home can be erected on-site in just 24 hours.

And it is the speed from design to completion that is crucial; it is this that will save the government both time and money.

Cost savings are key

But it’s not only the government who needs to make time and cost savings in order to meet tight deadlines and stick to budgets. It is vital for all businesses and organisations, no matter their size, to maintain a healthy bottom line. And finding ways to save time and money in all areas will build a better, stronger business.

So how can your company be more efficient and cost-effective?

There are many things you can do to become more efficient as a business and still make savings. One only needs to think outside the box. For example, by having a tracking system fitted in your company vehicles you will not only reduce your insurance premium and help to deter theft, but you will save money on your fuel bills and reduce repair costs too. With 24-hour GPS monitoring and a system such as Phantom Insight, you can make sure your drivers do not waste fuel or employ bad driving habits that will cause excess wear and tear on parts.

/0 Comments/by