Offsite Construction – More Adaptable than Many Realise

It’s easy to put offsite construction into a convenient pigeon hole depending on what you’ve experienced or read. ‘It’s all about affordable housing’, or ‘it’s for rapid, convenient school extension projects.’

Offsite construction is ideal for those types of projects but it is certainly not restricted to these projects.

At one end of the scale, you have Kingfisher Court, a 23,450 m2 mental health facility – the largest building in Europe constructed from Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs). At the other you have the St Michael’s school extension – a two story, four classroom structure assembled in a single day.

Our system has been used on projects from a single storey up to 19 storeys; and from low cost social housing to luxury apartments. More than anything else, offsite construction means flexibility.

Flexibility doesn’t just extend to the finished structure, it works throughout the design and construction process.

Creating a building’s structure in a factory environment is more controllable than on an open building site. Scheduling production to fit with groundworks and follow-on trades is straightforward and easier to adapt if the project is delayed. And it’s also possible to design-in simplicity to make M&E fit-out easier.

If site access is restricted, or there’s limited room for onsite storage, offsite construction is ideal. The components are only delivered when they are ready to be assembled and are quickly installed.

Safety

Inevitably, less onsite work means fewer accidents. Although sites are getting safer there were still 43 fatal injuries in 2015-16. There were also 66,000 self-reported injuries and 1.6m working days lost to musculoskeletal disorders and injuries.* Compare this traditional method to a greater use of offsite construction and these statistics are likely to be highly reduced.

Before making an assumption that offsite isn’t ideal for a given project and falling back on methods they’ve always used, contractors and architects ought to give offsite construction a serious consideration. Innovaré has expertise in the complete process from SIP design and manufacturing to installation. We’d be happy to advise, no matter what the size or nature of the project.

*source: Health & Safety Executive