Why Are Modular Buildings So Popular In 2023?

Modular buildings are an increasingly popular option for businesses and organisations who want to create new working space in a timely, cost effective, and sustainable way. Outdated perceptions about poor quality prefabs that are difficult to heat are fast falling away as modern methods of construction have very high standards.

It seems that the UK is finally waking up to the advantages of modular buildings, but in fact they have existed in some form since 1837, according to Prospect Magazine. The prototype was invented by a London carpenter named Henry Manning, who designed the Portable Cottage for use by Brits emigrating to Australia.

The idea proved to be a success, and hundreds more such buildings were manufactured in order to be shipped overseas to provide portable homes for émigrés. In 1855 with the outbreak of the Crimean War, the use of prefabricated buildings was expanded to include field hospitals that could accommodate up to 1000 patients.

It was during the aftermath of the Second World War that prefabricated buildings, known as prefabs, were used on a mass scale in the UK. Hundreds of thousands of homes were destroyed in bombing raids, leading to a severe housing shortage. The Prime Minister Winston Churchill passed into law the Housing (Temporary Accommodation) Act 1944.

This authorised the construction of over 150,000 prefab homes over the next four years, which were intended to have a lifespan of between 10 to 15 years. In fact, many prefabs lasted much longer than this, and some still exist today. They helped to ease the housing crisis and were low-cost and low maintenance.

Between 1945 and 1955, a further 1.5 million homes were built from pre-cast reinforced concrete, with an expected lifespan of 60 years. These were quick to build and less labour intensive than traditional bricks and mortar methods. There were several types of steel-framed prefab houses built in this era, to variable standards of quality.

Many postwar prefabs from this era have now been demolished due to dangerous asbestos content or issues with rust and concrete decay. Today, modular buildings have advanced considerably in terms of design, the quality of the materials used, and the flexibility of use.

They are used for a wide variety of purposes; whether to help ease the present housing crisis or to provide extra space for healthcare or educational facilities. Modern standards of off-site construction are extremely high, resulting in sustainable quality buildings that are energy efficient and can be used on a permanent basis if necessary.

Modular buildings can be assembled and fully operational in less than half the time it takes to construct a conventional bricks and mortar building. There is far less disruption on site, making them ideal for busy hospitals that want to avoid congestion for patients and ambulance services.

The costs are more predictable as the installation of the buildings is not dependent on weather conditions, and there is no risk of unforeseen problems cropping up as they often do on a traditional building site. For these reasons and many other factors, modular buildings are soaring in popularity.

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