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“Can you deliver modular anywhere?” It’s a question we often get asked, and while some areas are more challenging to get to than others, there are few problems we can’t solve.
Traditional ‘bricks and mortar’ construction can struggle in more remote locations or trickier terrain. We’ve worked across the UK and its isles, in busy cities and remote locations, in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and rugged coastlines, on the mainland and off it, and while it’s not always easy to get there – prefabricating the building in our factory and delivering it to site can make for a smooth solution.
Our work at St Mary’s Hospital, located on the remote Isle of Scilly off the coast of Cornwall, presented unique logistical challenges – road, sea, tourists and the ever unpredictable British weather. The project, which saw 29 large modules needed to help provided an extension to the hospital, including an integrated care home facility, was no small feat.
We organised transportation from our factory in Hull to the Cornish Coast and across the Celtic Sea to the island. Co-ordinating transport in line with unpredictable tides and weather, as well as taking into account the upcoming winter months that would shorten our delivery window, meant we had to be prepared to readjust plans at short notice.
Due to the ship’s limited capacity, we carefully designed our modules to ensure their size and weight were under the restrictions while also meeting the needs of the project. We packed the modules in a particular order, to allow them to be unloaded in the right sequence for smooth installation the other side.
Once the ship had arrived at the island, the logistical challenges didn’t end. The combination of a smaller location and the delivery date coinciding with a bank holiday that saw the usually quiet island bursting with tourists, meant that unloading hours were restricted and offboarding the units needed a multi-delivery process, stretching across multiple days. With winds picking up, safety paramount, but delivery promises to keep, an alternative position to unload without delay was sought while battling with the British weather.
Despite the challenges we were able to successfully deliver all 29 modules and two cargo containers within just four days, meaning that construction could start exactly when originally planned.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, we’ve also worked on sites that are in the middle of a busy, bustling city, and those that are on a constrained and live site.
Our award-winning project at King’s College Hospital, in London, was a combination of both. The site was a busy teaching hospital, serving approximately 700,000 people across multiple London Boroughs, which naturally had to remain operational throughout the build. The site was accessible by road on three sides, and it was crucial that disruption to traffic was minimal. The four-storey building’s construction also required a 500-tonne crane, which needed careful logistical planning to ensure it didn’t interfere with the Air Ambulance’s access to the hospital’s helipad. We worked with the site staff to ensure that patients, staff and the surrounding community weren’t disrupted by the build.
Despite the potential for delays, the building’s transportation and installation was completed in just 23 days from start to finish.
We specialise in transportable buildings that are delivered quickly no matter how difficult the location is to navigate. We’ll work closely with your team to find seamless solutions that keep construction running to time.
Need help planning your next build? Contact the team today.
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