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490 Barry’s Advanced Construction of Buildings
the new-build market, although the techniques and methods are equally suited to refurbishment
and upgrading projects.
Volumetric construction and modular construction are terms that tend to be used
quite interchangeably to describe the process of making large parts of buildings, or entire
buildings, in a factory before transporting them to the site, where they are then placed in
position. Fully complete modules, including wiring and plumbing, fixtures and fittings, and
decoration are built in factories under controlled conditions, then transported to site and
positioned by crane on a pre-prepared foundation. Rarely is there any need for scaffolding
or on-site storage facilities. When using modular construction, consideration must be given
to the sequence of lifting the prefabricated units into the building, and also to safely
manoeuvring them into their final position. Clear access must be maintained; thus in situations
where scaffolding is required, care should be taken to ensure that the scaffold does
not block access.
Supermarkets, hospitals, schools, airports, hotel chains and volume house builders have
successfully used modular construction techniques. Volumetric house construction is
popular in North America, Scandinavia and Japan, although it has had a rather chequered
history in the UK. Following the housing shortage after the Second World War, prefabricated
housing was seen as a quick and effective solution to the UK’s housing needs,
although with the passage of time a whole raft of problems, both technical and social, led
to a move away from volumetric modular construction. The Government’s report Rethinking
Construction (1998), led by Sir John Egan, identified five drivers for change: a customer
focus, a quality-driven agenda, committed leadership, integration of processes and teams
around the product, and commitment to people. Off-site production, especially volumetric
modular building, has been promoted heavily following the publication of the Egan report
as it is seen to be ‘compliant’ with the aims and objectives in the report. Modular building
is one means of helping to achieve efficiency, reduce wastage of materials and deliver
improved quality of the finished product. Some specialist commercial applications, such as
chains of hotels, supermarkets and fast food outlets, have exploited factors such as time
and repetition of a particular style (associated with brand image) particularly well to make
prefabrication and modularisation work for their business needs. For commercial applications,
the slight increase in initial build cost can be offset against savings in time and
longer-term savings in the repetition of units.
With a large housing need in the UK, combined with a skills shortage in the building
trades, attention has once again turned to prefabricated modular volume houses. Murray
Grove in Hackney, developed by the Peabody Trust and designed by Cartwright Pickard
as a prototype, represents an innovative example of prefabricated housing (Photograph 8.2).
The project made use of Yorkon’s standard modules, similar to those used for hotel bedrooms.
Each module has a lightweight steel framing structure. Single bedroom flats comprised
two 8 × 3.2 m modules, and two bedroom flats were made from three modules. The
bedrooms and living rooms have the same internal dimensions (5.15 × 3 m), thus enabling
living rooms to be used as an extra bedroom if required. The build cost of this modular
development was more expensive than traditional methods; however, the cost benefits will
increase when a similar approach is taken on other housing projects. The Peabody Trust
has continued its commitment to volumetric construction with an affordable housing
scheme at Raines Court. Major economical advantages are achieved with projects that have
long runs of identical modules. For smaller developers, the speed of construction may