As health trusts bid for business in the new competitive marketplace, and with dwindling capital budgets, off-site building specialist, Yorkon, has launched its most-advanced building system to date, providing a lifeline for cash-strapped estates managers.
Designed at Yorkon’s state-of-the-art production facility in York, the system allows thousands of different configurations and permutations together with a host of new built-in innovations, providing ready-made buildings for extensions, new builds or refurbishment schemes.
Fitting into any footprint, the buildings feature columns that are no longer visible, either internally or externally, and they can be supplied clad or unclad.
With good design, highly-efficient processes, robust and flexible building systems and enlightened architects, contractors and healthcare providers, off-site construction can deliver comfortable and welcoming environments for patients and staff
Modules are available in lengths between 6m and 18.75m, giving the option of using fewer larger units and reducing cranage and transport costs. They are also available in widths of 3m to 3.75m with three height options for single-storey buildings and seven for ground and intermediate floors on multi-storey schemes.
Other new additions include angled corners for greater architectural variety, a new wall construction offering improved insulation and acoustic performance, a wider choice of window and fenestration options, and a new insulation production system.
Commenting on the launch, Simon Ambler, Yorkon director, said: “The new system follows extensive research with our customers and construction partners. It has been developed specifically to meet their needs and particularly the requirement for a more flexible off-site solution that offers genuine freedom of expression in terms of layout, footprint and aesthetics.”
In an interview with BBH this week, David Johnson, Yorkon’s project director, added: “Traditional site-based construction methods can be hugely disruptive to a hospital environment. In many cases, because so much of the work on our buildings is done off-site, we can greatly minimise the impact on patient services.
“Our new building system creates buildings with a 100-year lifespan and, unlike early modular building types, we can now offer a system that is much more flexible in meeting the needs of health trusts today.
“There are more than 10,000 variations that we can offer, supported by a 3D design-to-manufacture service so we can reduce procurement time at every stage in the building process.”
The new building system is particularly geared towards the healthcare marketplace because of the limited work needed on site, and is flexible enough so that buildings can be altered as service needs change over time.
When you consider the critical need to minimise disruption to the provision of services and to reduce programme times to improve patient care and operational efficiency, it is easy to see why more NHS trusts are choosing off-site solutions to expand their facilities
Ambler explained: “Constrained hospital sites are a huge issue for healthcare providers at a time when there is increased pressure on services to meet both government targets and policy and to address the needs of a growing and ageing population. When you consider the critical need to minimise disruption to the provision of services and to reduce programme times to improve patient care and operational efficiency, it is easy to see why more NHS trusts are choosing off-site solutions to expand their facilities.
“With good design, highly-efficient processes, robust and flexible building systems and enlightened architects, contractors and healthcare providers, off-site construction can deliver comfortable and welcoming environments for patients and staff, with complete long-term flexibility to meet changing local needs and full compliance with NHS best practice for building design.
“The modules can be sited on completely enclosed courtyards, raised platforms and onto the roofs of existing buildings and hospitals can be expanded that do not have access to the plant, materials and equipment required for conventional building methods.”
As an industry we are enabling building projects to be speeded up and trusts to have much more control than if they were embarking on traditional schemes
Recent off-site projects in the sector have included the expansion of facilities at Harrogate District Hospital, where a new storey was added to an existing ward building. Carried out by Yorkon and contractor, Interserve, the scheme created a centralised hub for administration activity as part of a rationalisation of office accommodation across the trust.
Working with Kier Eastern, Yorkon has also recently provided a major scheme at Colchester General Hospital in Essex, helping to increase capacity for the winter period. The building accommodates a children’s department, elective care centre and a surgical ward, all delivered in a highly-constrained site. This approach reduced the project time by around six months compared to traditional construction methods.
On the whole, programme times using the new system can be reduced by 50%, with 99% recycling of waste material in the factory and 92% recycling on site, plus improved thermal efficiency and lower carbon emissions.
Johnson told BBH: “Because of funding issues, many healthcare projects are being delayed, so off-site construction methods offer the opportunity to deliver projects in less time, meeting the original project deadlines despite schemes taking longer reach financial close.
“In the past a lot of modular buildings have been used as interim accommodation, but the reality is that we have been delivering permanent building solutions for many years. As an industry we are enabling building projects to be speeded up and trusts to have much more control than if they were embarking on traditional schemes.”
Joe Biggs, managing director of P+HS Architects, has worked with Yorkon on the development of the new system and told BBH: “It is a tremendously exciting development that could potentially revolutionise the use of off-site construction and the design possibilities of the approach.”
As an industry, we can certainly reduce the time it takes to build new healthcare facilities and we are building designs that genuinely rival traditional construction methods
Offering advice to trusts looking to make improvements to their estate, Johnson said it was important to compare solutions and check suppliers’ track records and available resources. He added: “In these challenging economic times, it is absolutely imperative that any contractor can demonstrate strong financial stability.”
Other tips for choosing an off-site contractor include:
- Look at statistics for a number of projects delivered on time and to budget over the past five years. This is a good performance indicator and will help reduce the risk of budget overruns and delays
- Ask what services are provided and how the project will be managed. Ask if the contractor has the required expertise and technical back-up. This is particularly important if the site is constrained. Also ask whether the contractor will appoint a dedicated project manager
- Check whether the manufacturer has specialist healthcare experience. Talk to other NHS trusts and contractors that have used the system and visit completed buildings
- Look for and verify independent endorsements, approvals and warranties such as BBA certification, LPCB certification for fire resistance, ISO 14001 for environmental sustainability, ISO 9001 quality certification for the entire process, and the inclusion of a 30-year structural warranty for the load-bearing elements of the building and a five-year product warranty for the external fabric as standard
- Fully assess the contractor’s approach to sustainability. Can it demonstrate ongoing reductions in waste and carbon emissions? Also ask what green design options are available such as rainwater harvesting, ground and air source heat pumps and passive ventilation
- Ask what in-house capability the manufacturer has to value engineer the building design for maximum energy efficiency and whole life value
As demand for off-site construction continues to increase health trusts will keep looking to industry to come up with new solutions that provide the space requirements they need, but with minimal impact on services and at a low cost.
Johnson concludes: “As an industry, we can certainly reduce the time it takes to build new healthcare facilities and we are building designs that genuinely rival traditional construction methods. This is particularly useful for the healthcare market, where we see huge potential for off-site solutions.”
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