26 CASE STUDY The construction director cited the “pace
of the residential supply chain” as one challenge that this new process introduces, one that is reportedly faced by many offsite housing manufacturers. “Lead times are often much longer than those required for offsite manufacture for other sectors such as healthcare and educa- tion,” Millar explains. He argued however that “the growing demand from the offsite sector for greater speed and shorter lead times from suppliers of domestic products will address this as the offsite housing sector becomes more mature.”
SUCCESS SO FAR
orientation in the building design, and the bungalows have up to six modules. The detached bungalows have a steel- framed post and beam point loaded system with a timber floor. The apartments are constructed from the same system, but with concrete floors to provide additional acoustic performance above and below each apartment. The terraced houses use a light gauge steel-framed system with a composite floor. The central cores for the apartments, which accommodate the stair towers, lift shafts and circulation areas, are also manufactured offsite. As there are two different offsite housing systems on this scheme, two types of foundations were used. These were tradi- tional poured concrete strip foundations for the terraced houses, and pad foundations for the apartments and bungalows to accommodate the point-loaded steel- framed system. On the buildings’ exteriors, the facades
are rendered and the roofs have cement- fibre slate tiles – a requirement of planning. As for the roofs, they will be tiled on site. “This work could have been carried out in the factory, but the orienta- tion of the modules and roof layouts would have needed to change,” explained Millar. “As the project already had planning consent, the client was keen to avoid any delay to starting construction of the new homes, so the decision was taken to tile the roofs on site.”
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The construction director holds the company’s offsite methods as one key reason for the development’s success so far, and argues that the method holds many benefits in the current economic context: “The greater certainty and predictability of offsite manufacture is helping to address the rising cost of building materials, the shortage of skilled labour in the construc- tion industry in Northern Ireland, and the uncertainty created by Brexit. “Offsite manufacture has avoided delays caused by poor weather, particularly during the winter months, and it improves both quality and health and safety – with less impact on the environment.” He stated that the project has been a “tremendous springboard” for the Group’s expansion into onsite housing. “It success- fully demonstrates how offsite can be used for a number of different housing types in a single scheme – detached, semi-detached, terraced and apartments. It will also demonstrate how offsite can help reduce programme times.” Millar concludes: “It is fantastic to see
such a progressive provider of social and affordable housing as Clanmil, who are looking at more innovative ways of providing high quality new homes more quickly to address the housing shortage.”
PROJECT TEAM Client:
Clanmil Housing Association
The McAvoy Group: Offsite manufacturer and principal contractor
Architects: Knox Clayton
Structural engineers: White Young Green
M&E consultants: ISD Consulting Engineers
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