Caravans and the building industry? These seem unlikely partners and yet technology principles developed in caravan manufacture are helping to improve efficiency in the construction industry.
The December issue of 'Specialist Building Finishes' magazine features the latest fabrication techniques that are evolving in off-site fabrication, thanks to the modular building techniques originally developed for caravan manufacture.
Off-site fabrication accounts for only 5% of total construction currently but according to Finishes magazine, manufacturers such as British Gypsum and Lafarge have been looking at off-site fabrication as a key way of improving time and build programme certainty, as well as driving down waste. In addition, complicated features and repeated, identical elements can be manufactured to high quality and with greater accuracy off-site.
From pre-assembled walls to almost complete rooms, off-site manufacture is gaining popularity as manufacturers seek to improve accuracy and quality as well as minimise disruption to the client. Lafarge's curved Platec technique, for example, has been used to create a number of 4 metre high conical light shafts at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham. The striking-looking cones were assembled on site from a pre-fabricated plasterboard kit.
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