Yorkon completes new £5M Ward Building at Walsall Manor Hospital

Off-site construction specialist and Portakabin subsidiary, Yorkon, has completed a £5.5m contract for Skanska to manufacture and fit out a new 136-bed ward building at Walsall Manor Hospital – a week ahead of programme.

The project was part of the advance works package for the £140m redevelopment of the hospital to be completed by Skanska Innisfree under the Private Finance Initiative, replacing outdated buildings with state-of-the-art facilities to enhance patient care.

The four-storey ward building comprises 104 steel-framed modules, which were manufactured off site in York by Yorkon and craned into position in three phases to minimise disruption to the hospital.

It provides modern and spacious accommodation to facilitate improved quality of care and to help with the control of cross infection. Facilities include a combination of six-bed wards and single ensuite bedrooms, nurse base stations on each floor, treatment suites, ward kitchen, offices, day room and relatives room.

Commenting on completion of the new ward building, Sue James, Chief Executive of Walsall Hospitals NHS Trust, said, “We are extremely proud of this new facility which will vastly improve the experience of some of our more vulnerable patients, by providing facilities that are fit for the 21st Century.”

Mike Thompson, Technical Director at Skanska, said, “This project went very smoothly, with excellent relations and co-operation between the Trust, Skanska and Yorkon teams. The modular approach brought programme benefits to the project as we were working to a tight deadline for completion. The building was also manufactured in a controlled environment which has quality benefits.”

Building off site offers many advantages for the construction of new healthcare facilities. Programme times are reduced by up to 50 per cent, allowing earlier completion and occupation to the benefit of patient care, and disruption to staff, patients and the local community is significantly reduced because the building is manufactured off site. The Yorkon modular system allows a high degree of design flexibility internally and externally, and buildings can be expanded without decanting.

www.yorkon.info



For further PRESS information, please contact:

Joanne Bridges, PRO – Yorkon
Tel: 01489 570898
Fax: 01489 570888
jbridges@bridgescommunications.co.uk

Editor’s Notes

1. Further benefits of off-site construction for healthcare projects include:

- few vehicle movements to site
- construction work is safer, quieter and cleaner
- quality is improved and future maintenance is reduced
- delivery on time and on budget is guaranteed
- thermal efficiency is improved, for lower running costs and reduced carbon emissions
- the approach helps to address the shortage of skilled labour affecting the construction industry
- costs are controlled and material wastage is reduced.

2. Off-site construction involves the manufacture of steel-framed modules in a controlled factory environment, using production line technology, whilst the foundation works are completed on site. The modules are delivered to site by road where they are craned into position in just a few days ready for fitting out.

Unprecedented demand for new design tool for off-site construction

Since the launch of its new design tool to help architects and contractors work with off-site construction, award-winning modular building specialist and Portakabin subsidiary, Yorkon, has received over 1,200 requests for the guide.

This unprecedented interest is further evidence of the growing demand for off-site construction as a high quality, efficient and sustainable alternative to traditional site-based building methods. Demand is particularly strong from architects and contractors, as well as end users.

In response to the high level of interest in the new tool and following the success of its series of design workshops for architects, contractors and consultants, Yorkon has added three new workshops to its event programme which will take place on 2nd October 2008 at the RIBA in London.

Each session will demonstrate how to design buildings using a steel-framed modular system with practical advice on how to optimise the benefits of off-site construction.

To register for one of the design workshops, email contact@yorkon.com or call 0845 2000 123.

The recently updated design tool is available in interactive pdf format via the Yorkon website – www.yorkon.com. It is a comprehensive guide to steel-framed modular construction, including module sizes and options for staircases and lifts. For CAD users, there are easy-to-use files to help architects develop a building design for a specific project and produce fast and accurate project drawings.

In order to maximise the benefits of off-site construction, it is essential that specifiers develop a good understanding of the modular system and the process, and design for modular rather than site-based construction from the outset. The design guide tool and the series of workshops are Yorkon initiatives to help address this requirement.

Other new developments recently launched by Yorkon include a series of new design options for ‘greener’ modular buildings, which offer significant environmental benefits, such as the use of renewable sources of energy, reduced energy consumption and waste, lower carbon emissions, and greater recyclability.

The optional features include solar thermal heating, solar photovoltaics, passive ventilation, combined heat and power systems, ground source heat pumps, green roofs, biomass boilers, and rainwater harvesting.



For further PRESS information, please contact:

Joanne Bridges, Bridges Communications
PRO – Yorkon
Tel: 01489 570898, Fax: 01489 570888
Email: jbridges@bridgescommunications.co.uk

Editor’s Notes

1. The Yorkon approach to off-site construction offers a number of clear advantages over site-based building methods:

- enhanced thermal efficiency and greater sustainability
- waste reductions of up to 90 per cent
- programme times reduced by up to 50 per cent
- greater cost control
- less disruption
- safety improved by up to 46 per cent
- earlier occupation
- guaranteed quality
- greater design flexibility
- less risk for the client – more than 96 per cent of Yorkon projects have been completed on time and 94 per cent on
budget over the past five years – well exceeding construction industry averages

2. Off-site construction involves the manufacture of steel-framed modules in a controlled factory environment, using production line technology, whilst the foundation works are completed on site. The modules are delivered to site by road where they are craned into position in just a few days ready for the final stages of fitting out.