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A temporary classroom with a bouncy floor; freezing in winter, sweltering in summer. This is the memory many people have of modular buildings from their schooldays, and it is a view the industry is still battling against.

鈥淭here is a gap between reality and perception and it鈥檚 going to take to time to shift those deep-seated notions,鈥� says Nick Griffin, general manager at modular builder Portakabin. 鈥淲hen people hear the word 鈥榤odular鈥� or the brand name Portakabin, there is set of associations that come with it that are completely out of line with what we are able to deliver.鈥�

Philip Watson, director at architecture practice HLM, agrees: 鈥淧erceptions in the collective psyche are that modular construction is quite poor-quality,鈥� adding that even some inside the industry have similar prejudices. 鈥淎rchitects, in the main, suck through their teeth if they have to design in modular, and that has to change. The whole construction industry has to become more forward-thinking.鈥�

鈥淎rchitects suck through their teeth if they have to design in modular, and that has to change. the whole industry needs to be more forward-thinking鈥�

Philip Watson, HLM

But even if you can get clients to favour modular, there is a question over whether they can actually get it. Mel Manku, consultant Arcadis鈥� head of education, says: 鈥淭he problem is there is not enough capacity and it鈥檚 not just down to schools; there are other sectors that are also looking at how modular can solve their issues. Take housing, for example. If all the modular factories we have were used full-time to produce housing, we would still need seven more factories just to deliver the housing we need.鈥�

While the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) started its push for modular four years ago and the programme is in its fifth generation, just 70 schools have been built off site, according to Mike Green, acting director general at the Department for Education (see overleaf) 鈥� a tiny proportion in the context that the entire ESFA estate is 24,000 schools. So how can modular win the hearts and minds 鈥� and money 鈥� needed to make a significant difference to the school estate?

 

Support

Griffin says research and development is central to getting the industry up to where it needs to be, and the key to that will be government funding. 鈥淲e still want to get better at what we can do in the future; it will go further. But this is an industry where there is not a lot of money lying around for R&D. We need a commitment from government.鈥�

Funding is just part of that commitment, he says. 鈥淭here needs to be a commitment that this isn鈥檛 just a political whim, that if we increase capacity the demand isn鈥檛 suddenly just going to go away,鈥� Griffin explains.

Saving time on the build programme is a big incentive for investing in offsite. 鈥淪peed becomes a requirement,鈥� says Manku. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e looking at traditional procurement, then you鈥檙e looking at additional time and additional money.

鈥淲hat modular provides is speed of construction, but there are also other factors that should be taken into account. It鈥檚 safer and it鈥檚 easier to train people to produce modular buildings in factories than it would be to deliver traditionally.鈥�

The speed benefit

Simon Reid, managing director at Lungfish Architects, which specialises in modular, says speed is a major plus with offsite manufacturing for new schools. 鈥淚t鈥檚 30% quicker to produce plans for a modular building than traditional products,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hat means that you can, first, produce more, but also spend more time on things that really benefit the end user 鈥� the students and the teachers 鈥� inside the classroom, as you reach design freeze on the building much earlier.

鈥淥ne of the best things is we know every part clients are going to need. We can then pour them out onto the table and the client can essentially choose the design they want from the elements that we have in front of them.鈥�

Aside from saving time, saving money is the other big factor supporting the wider use of modular in education. Manku says: 鈥淚t is slightly cheaper to build a modular building than it is to build a traditional one, but you don鈥檛 really see many of the benefits from a client perspective. Where you do really begin to see those benefits is when you have scale.鈥�

The ESFA has started to use scale to maximise the benefits of offsite construction, awarding batches of schools to modular builders, with five contractors 鈥� Portakabin, Elliott, Caledonian, McAvoy and Initiative, a joint venture between Styles & Wood and Extraspace Solutions 鈥� landing places on the 拢300m secondary block framework. Arcadis鈥� Manku says that is just as well, given there is a need for 381 secondary schools country-wide. While we may have reached a peak in the population of primary school-aged children 鈥� and in some areas such as London there is a reported surplus of primary places 鈥� the so-called 鈥渂ulge years鈥� are now passing through to secondary schools. Manku says: 鈥淓veryone has woken up to the fact that having built primary schools, we now need secondary schools.鈥�

Scale is key

Lungfish Architects鈥� Reid seconds the point that scale is the key to maximising the economic benefits of offsite construction for clients procuring new schools. He cites Bedford council, which has engaged Lungfish to develop modular solutions right across its estate of schools, as a client maximising the benefits of offsite construction. 鈥淩epeat clients and extended programmes are when the benefits can really be seen, both financially and in terms of timeliness,鈥� says Reid. 鈥淧rogrammes where you aren鈥檛 just delivering one school, but two, three, four or five, that鈥檚 where the clients, and all the other parts of the supply chain really reap the financial rewards.鈥�

Watson, whose practice HLM is partnered with Caledonian on the Modular C ESFA framework, agrees that scale is a factor when it comes to maximising financial gain, but says an early decision is just as significant. 鈥淥ne-off products can still be cheaper,鈥� Watson says. 鈥淭he key is when the decision to go modular is made. Modular becomes more expensive when a client starts down the traditional design and procurement route, decides they need it done faster 鈥� say for the start of the new school year 鈥� and switches to modular delivery. That would cost more as you are working back on yourself. It needs to be a decision made from inception.鈥�

Portakabin鈥檚 Griffin also bemoans late decision-making, urging clients to contact modular specialists even if they are still weighing up their options. 鈥淓arly engagement is key when it comes to maximising benefits. We are often engaged that little bit too far down the track and then both the time and cost benefits have been compromised.鈥�

Another plus point that Griffin says is potentially underestimated is that hardly anyone can tell when a building was built off site. 鈥淧eople wouldn鈥檛 know, and that鈥檚 what surprises them,鈥� Griffin says. 鈥淭he quality and variety of what we are able to deliver means people wouldn鈥檛 know something wasn鈥檛 built traditionally.鈥�

Working together

Griffin says there is huge potential for modular and traditional contractors to work together to add the touches that really separate one building from another. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 have to be all or nothing. For example, two wings of a school could be built offsite using modular, then the atrium that connects them could be built with sweeping staircases and curved walls on site using traditional methods.鈥�

Reid says that most people would be unable to pick a modular school building out of a line-up. 鈥淧eople never have to know its modular if that outdated perception of the product is a significant issue. You can dress the building up any way you want to,鈥� he says. 鈥淚f you can鈥檛 tell it鈥檚 modular, and it鈥檚 cheaper and quicker, why on earth wouldn鈥檛 it be the best solution?鈥�

Manku sums up one answer to that simply: 鈥淚t鈥檚 not being embraced by central government to the scale it should be and needs to be 鈥� and I don鈥檛 feel other clients, like local authorities, are informed enough or confident enough to move forward with a modular solution at scale. It should be the solution, but it鈥檚 currently not.鈥�