When Time is the Critical Factor – Offsite Construction Comes into its Own

Every client wants their construction project completed quickly. They’d like it to be on schedule too – although a recent KPMG study reported that only 40% of projects are completed by the scheduled date. But in sectors like education, timing is absolutely critical.

There’s a big difference between a new building or classroom extension ready for students on the first day of term, and a more or less finished structure with fit-out work still to do and defects that have to be corrected by a succession of different trades people.

Having confidence that onsite works will be completed within a narrow and predictable time period (such as school holidays) makes projects safer and less disruptive. So perhaps it’s no surprise that education has been one of the quickest sectors to embrace offsite construction techniques.

Parallel Processes and Rapid Assembly

Manufacturing the structure offsite at the same time as site preparation and groundworks are operating reduces the overall timescale. Assembling a structure made of fully insulated large format panels, that fit together easily and quickly, will always be quicker than cementing a structure together block by block.

Onsite works to create and fit out the building structure considerably reduce using the System.

Further time savings come from the precision of the offsite process. With the Innovaré System, the structure is fully value engineered; by which we mean we know it can be assembled quickly and as planned. The installation of heating, lighting and services has also been planned into the design so contractors know exactly when to turn up and what they need to do when they get there. The design is configured around the efficient routing of ventilation, daylighting and services.

Design-led

Many problems with traditional linear builds arise because ‘buildability’ isn’t fully considered during the design phase. Sometimes this is down to complex supply and subcontracting chains using different systems and having little opportunity to collaborate early in the project. Late design changes and onsite reworks then cause delays, making it difficult to schedule trades and the project end date hard to guarantee. And that’s before the weather interferes.

This makes the Innovaré early partnership even more important. Because we uniquely offer an end to end service from design to install we are experienced in understanding what is needed to ensure ‘buildability’. We engage specialists and contractors early in the design process so that practical issues are resolved in the design rather than onsite.

If you are currently working on a time critical build which needs more than just construction, it needs design, engineer and install, take a look at what Innovaré can do to help on our website or call us to discuss further on 0845 674 0020.