Offsite construction agenda

Offsite construction was top of the agenda when senior management from the British Board of Agrément visited SO Modular, a UK timber frame and SIPs producer investing heavily in its south Wales manufacturing base.

BBA CEO Claire Curtis-Thomas, together with Wendy Ajuwon, head of marketing, visited SO Modular’s plant in Neath, south Wales, to find out more about its timber frame products and BBA-certificated Triso-Warm structured insulated panel system.

The BBA certificate allows the company to construct six-storey buildings using Triso-Warm. Previously it could only use it up to four storeys.

SO Modular recently announced plans to relocate its operations to the former 300,000ft2 ‘metal box’ factory in Neath, reinvigorating the area with an investment of £6.5 million and using the location as an indoor offsite construction hub. The company anticipates doubling its workforce in the next year, allowing it to increase production from 1,000 to more than 3,000 homes per year, all thanks to growing demand for modular construction solutions.

The new site will be re-named the JCG Buildings and bring JG Hale Group’s Hale Construction and Hale Homes together under one roof.

Jonathan Hale, chairman of JG Hale Group, and Charlotte Hale, director of SO Modular, accompanied Claire and Wendy on their visit to SO Modular’s manufacturing plant and the new JCG Buildings. The group also visited a Wales and West housing project in Llanishen, Cardiff, where the Triso-Warm system is being used in a £10 million development of 82 affordable housing units.

All five blocks in the scheme include the Triso-Warm structurally insulated panels with factory fitted windows, doors, floor and roof cassettes and open panels, all manufactured offsite by SO Modular for delivery as complete units.

The build technique allows homes to be built more quickly and cost-effectively.

SO Modular director Charlotte Hale said: “It was great to talk to Claire and the BBA team during their visit to our headquarters. We discussed the construction industry in its current state and modern methods of construction, as well as both businesses’ future plans and how we can work together more collaboratively in order to create far greater benefits from our working relationship and for the industry.”