With the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme aiming to rebuild or remodel every secondary school in England – around 3,500 schools – an immense building programme, costing around £45bn, is underway.

Safety, security and disruption are primary considerations when a school undertakes any work on its site. However construction is time and labour intensive and importantly dangerous, which doesn’t fit well with a school environment.

Construction programmes have to be planned around the school calendar, often using staggered build programmes to coincide with school holidays. However, with the length of the average school project longer than six weeks, it is inevitable that construction and term time will overlap.

But with modern methods of construction being increasingly recognised for the benefits they can bring in terms of speed, quality and sustainability, there is the potential to lessen the impact of construction on schools and reduce associated concerns.

Modular construction has already proven it can complete new school buildings outside term time.

At Bishop Challoner School in central London, the foundations and groundworks for a three-storey temporary building were completed during the Easter break, the site was then made safe and closed for the summer term. Meanwhile, the modules were constructed at Modular UK’s site in Driffield and during the summer holidays construction proper started as the steel frame was erected and the modules were craned into place. The building which comprised 168 modules, housing a 15m-span sports hall, science labs, classrooms, toilets, changing rooms, offices and staff facilities, was completed and handed over to the school in just six weeks, ready for use in the new school year.

Space constraint is often a challenge for those working on education projects – as many of the schemes are taking place on existing school sites and in term time, so car parking and room for site offices and machinery is limited.

Security and health and safety concerns mean that schools appreciate the least amount of people coming on site as possible. A modular solution helps in both these crucial areas by taking the time and labour intensive elements of the build off site, meaning less deliveries coming to site, significantly reduced requirement for site welfare facilities, storage, car parking and a significant reduction in the number of trades working on site at any one time. Once the building envelope is complete, including internal fixtures and decoration the building can be locked and secured, improving health and safety for children and enabling the final stages of the project to be finalised.

Understanding the capabilities
Despite modern building techniques, perceptions surrounding modular construction believe it to still be relatively simple. In reality it has advanced significantly from temporary classrooms and square box buildings, to be an ingenious and effective construction method that offers permanent solutions to many of the challenges facing today’s contractor.

Critical to the success of a modular build, is a full understanding of its suitability for the project in mind.

Modules have to be transported to site, and therefore size is constrained to what can be carried on a lorry. Therefore traditional construction is better suited to big, high open spaces such as sports halls, but for classrooms, studios and laboratories modular is a quick and effective build. However, a project doesn’t have to be confined to one method or the other; traditional and modular construction methods can combine to deliver a build that meets the need of the school whilst offering the benefits achievable through a modular build.

The most successful projects are where the capabilities of modular methods are maximised through working with the modular specialist at the project’s earliest stages to ensure that the greatest benefits can be achieved for all parties.

Cost competitive
Another common assumption has been that modular is more expensive than brick and block. However, once all elements of the construction process are considered, it’s actually a more costeffective option.

Whilst the installation, construction and completion costs are slightly higher than traditional comparisons, there is a significant reduction in preliminary costs, as well as less potential for project overrun where hire and labour costs can spiral, for example during a prolonged period of bad weather.

With the BSF programme in full swing and at a time when raw material costs are steadily increasing, steel frame construction is affected in the same way as all other construction sectors with concrete and energy prices continuing to soar, costs are increasing across the entire industry.

As sustainability remains a key issue especially for those working for public sector clients, exploring the environmental credentials of each construction method is crucial. With the government setting targets for the industry within this year’s Strategy for Sustainable Construction – such as halving construction waste to landfill by 2012 – new approaches need to be taken to the design, build and management of projects to ensure greater resource efficiency and less waste.

In terms of sustainability, the off site nature of modular construction allows better management of
resources, bulk buying to individual specification and more extensive recycling than on a construction site.
The method of construction also lends itself to improved energy efficiency, better acoustics and airtightness than brick and block construction.

Clearly, modular has some important benefits to offer the construction sector, especially when it comes to the BSF programme where speed, quality and security are key. For the construction industry to gain from these benefits it needs to put aside the traditional perceptions and investigate the full capabilities a modular solution can deliver both to the contractor and its client.

Steve Wightman is managing director of Modular UK