Yorkon shortlisted for two major building awards

Portakabin subsidiary, Yorkon, and Interserve Project Services, have been shortlisted for two Building Better Healthcare Awards following the completion of a ProCure21 project at the University Hospital of North Tees in Stockton.

The construction team for the new Emergency Assessment Unit has been shortlisted in the Best Healthcare Construction Product category and for the Best Ecological Product Award.

The annual Building Better Healthcare Awards reward excellence, innovation and professionalism in the healthcare built environment and look specifically at building design, the patient environment, people, products and estates and facilities management.

The award winners will be announced following selected site visits and a ‘Dragon’s Den’ style Product Pitching Day, at an awards ceremony in London in November.

David Johnson, Director and General Manager of Yorkon said, “Completing a building of this complexity and to the required quality standards, in the timescale, was the major challenge. This was also a very busy hospital site and minimising disruption to patient care for the duration of the contract was a critical issue.”

“We are delighted that the achievements of the Trust, Interserve and Yorkon – and the success of the off-site approach – have been recognised with these award nominations. And it is excellent that our efforts in developing a sustainable building system have been acknowledged with our inclusion in the award shortlist for the Best Ecological Product.”
Steven Taylor, Trust Project Manager for the EAU scheme, said, “The Trust’s brief to the project team was to provide a modern, welcoming healthcare environment with a strong emphasis on designs that promote the highest standards of cleanliness and control of infection. A key factor was also that the building would be robust enough to cope with the demands of a very busy Emergency Assessment Unit.”

“I am happy to say that the project team has met the Trust’s expectations. This building has certainly raised the bar in terms of quality of finish and compliance with NHS standards.”

Yorkon was awarded the £2.8m contract by Interserve Project Services for the off-site construction and fitting out of a new state-of-the-art 42-bed Emergency Assessment Unit required by North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust.

The 1,710sqm single-storey extension building was completed just over six months after start on site and has successfully expanded the number of assessment beds on the Stockton site as part of the Government’s drive to reduce waiting times for emergency cases. Since its completion, the Trust has achieved the highest level of activity in the EAU of any ward accommodation in the hospital.

The scheme comprises 42 steel-framed modules, which were manufactured in York and installed on site in just a few days – minimising disruption to patient care and reducing the programme time for the new unit.

Designed around the needs of patients, healthcare professionals and support staff, following extensive consultation, the building provides a range of facilities for acute emergency surgical care, including:

• four-bed wards
• single en-suite bedrooms
• an isolation ward
• high dependency beds
• consulting rooms
• ward manager’s office
• waiting areas and quiet room
• staff changing facilities and rest room
• an interview room.

The unit has been equipped with the latest technology. Wireless workstations are available for use at patients’ bedsides and this is one of the first units in the country to have an electronic information board. It is treating around 30,000 patients each year.

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. The advantages of off-site construction for healthcare projects include:

- programme times reduced by up to 50 per cent, allowing earlier completion with a positive impact on patient care
- reduced disruption to patients, staff and the local community during construction
- fewer vehicle movements to site
- safer, quieter and cleaner
- improved quality and reduced future maintenance
- a high level of design flexibility internally and externally
- buildings can be expanded without decanting
- improved thermal efficiency for lower running costs and reduced carbon emissions
- helping to address the shortage of skilled labour affecting the construction industry
- cost control and reduced material wastage
- guaranteed delivery on time and on budget.

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.

3. If you wish to publish a telephone number for further information, the number for Yorkon is 01904 610990. Please do not print the agency’s number.

 

Modular Industry first for Sainsbury's

Leading food retailer, Sainsbury’s, has further advanced the use and specification of modular construction to extend the retail sales area of one of its supermarkets, utilising pre-installed terrazzo flooring for the first time.

Main contractors, Longcross, and award-winning off-site specialists, Yorkon, completed the scheme to expand the retail accommodation at a Sainsbury’s store in Attleborough, Norfolk. This is the first application of the new high performance floor option from Yorkon, which allows highly durable terrazzo flooring to be fully installed off site in a factory.

The new innovation was developed by Yorkon with Longcross, giving Sainsbury’s the opportunity to use steel-framed modular construction to provide additional retail space, with all the benefits of building off site.

The build time for the store in Attleborough was reduced by six weeks to just three months, minimising disruption to Sainsbury’s customers’ shopping experience during the supermarket extension and refurbishment.

The single-storey brick-clad modular extension runs the full length of the store and has created a complete new frontage and main entrance for the supermarket. It accommodates 16 checkouts, customer toilets, baby change facilities, customer services desk and ATM pods. Full height curtain walling was pre-installed off site together with a large proportion of the fitting out, such as plumbing, flooring, tiling, electrics and internal partitions.

Two fully finished prototype modules were manufactured at the Yorkon production centre in York as part of the development of the new high performance floor option. The Yorkon building system was also engineered to allow removal of some intermediate columns to achieve maximum clear spans preferred in supermarket construction.

Commenting on the use of modular construction, Richard Rust, Head of Construction and Delivery at Sainsbury’s said, “Modular construction is not new to us, however as part of our Develop For Less (DFL) programme and our close collaboration with our supply chain, we have been able to further develop the use of modular construction with the introduction of pre-installed terrazzo flooring.”

“Minimising disruption to our customers when extending or refurbishing our stores is a key issue for Sainsbury’s and there is a clear synergy between constructing buildings off site and the food retail sector.”

“Yorkon has a proven ability to deliver and our close collaboration is working well. We were pleased with the outcome of the Attleborough project and have received good feedback from our customers and colleagues.”

“Modular construction allowed us to build the extension later in the programme to retain as much car parking for customers as possible during the extension and refurbishment, an important benefit on such a constrained site. The modules were installed quickly and with little impact on our customers. Based on the success of Attleborough, we will continue to look at all opportunities for an off-site approach in our development programme.”

Steve Willis, Project Manager at main contractors, Longcross, said, “At Attleborough we had very little space on site so traditional methods of construction would have taken up customer parking for the storage of materials, plant and equipment. The modular approach meant the store was closed for only one day, which reduced overall disruption to customers and the programme time for construction of the new extension. The terrazzo finish in the extension blends in well with the existing store and the end result is very good.”Yorkon has now completed a number of schemes for Sainsbury’s with Longcross – a café extension at Ellesmere Port, a toilet block at Arnold near Nottingham and a larger project to provide a retail extension, new entrance and home delivery facility at a superstore in Worksop.

The new concrete floor option has been developed by Yorkon for high traffic applications, such as supermarkets, and where higher point loadings are required. It allows ceramic tiles and terrazzo floors to be factory-installed, reducing time and improving quality, and will achieve point loads of 7kN and uniformly distributed loads of up to 9kN/m2.

http://www.yorkon.info/



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 and a faster return on investment
- 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

Foremans publishes new literature for pre-owned modular buildings - A more suitable approach to construction

Foremans Relocatable Building Systems, the UK’s largest supplier of pre-owned modular buildings, has launched a new brochure outlining the design options and technical advancements now available for this highly sustainable, fast and cost-effective approach to construction.

The new literature for construction clients, main contractors and end users of buildings in both public and private sectors, is an informative guide to buying, selling and hiring pre-owned modular buildings for offices, schools, hospitals, airports and temporary site accommodation.

It is illustrated with completed projects across a diverse range of sectors and features comments from clients and building occupiers. It also includes information about specifications, procurement options, health and safety, and the sustainability benefits of recycling and refurbishing modular buildings.

The Foremans approach offers all the advantages of off-site construction – speed, quality and less disruption – with the additional benefits of exceptional value for money and a higher degree of sustainability because the modules supplied are pre-owned and fully refurbished.

The use of recycled modular buildings is an environmentally sound alternative to demolishing and disposing of traditionally-built buildings in landfill sites.

Refurbished steel-framed modular buildings, which are compliant with Building Regulations, generate less than 10 per cent of the carbon emissions and use less than 3 per cent of the energy during construction compared to a newly manufactured building of equivalent size.

The modules are fully upgraded and reconfigured off site by Foremans to clients’ specific project requirements, for either permanent or temporary accommodation. This minimises waste and energy consumption, allows other organisations to benefit from the advantages of off-site construction, and reduces programme times by up to 70 per cent compared to site-based building methods.

Buildings can be clad in a range of finishes to complement existing facilities, and can be supplied in single or multi-storey configurations for a wide range of uses, including classrooms, nurseries, wards, offices, site accommodation, and airport facilities.

Organisations can hire, purchase or lease their accommodation for unrivalled choice and flexibility and to help meet their changing needs.

To request a copy of the new brochure, visit http://www.foremansbuildings.co.uk/or call 01964 544344.


For further PRESS information, please contact:

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

Editor’s Notes

1. Foremans has the UK’s largest selection of refurbished Portakabin buildings and provides a nationwide service from its 24,000 sqm production centre in East Yorkshire, and its southern regional office in Dunstable.

2. Foremans offers a full range of construction services, including planning, finance, design and space planning, project management, groundworks, fitting out, delivery and site installation, testing and commissioning.