Walsall Council learns the lesson of prefabrication

24 July, 2005

Enabling a major project to be carried out at a Walsall school outside the summer holiday is this prefabricated plantroom supplied by Armstrong Integrated Systems.

The delivery of a prefabricated plantroom to a school in Walsall has enabled a major project to be completed outside of the summer-holiday window. The self-contained plantroom was designed and assembled by Armstrong Integrated Systems at its factory in Halesowen and installed by Walsall Council at Kingshill Primary School. The engineer at Walsall Council who specified the plantroom had experience of prefabrication from a previous role in the construction and management of prison and hospital buildings when decentralising heating plant. On joining the council, he adopted a similar approach for public-sector building projects, including this upgrade at Kingshill He explains, ‘Walsall Council has responsibility for 157 schools. Using traditional methods, we can only install during the school summer holiday. But offsite prefabrication lifts these limitations, enabling us to install a new plantroom at any time outside the heating season. Prefabricated plantrooms also avoid the risk of on-site delays and the costs resulting from these unexpected hitches.’ The total cost of such packaged units, including bases, cranage and final connections, is greater than on-site refurbishment. But taking all the restrictions and benefits into account makes them viable.

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