Modular building goes to college

Plymouth College of Art and Design's Central Building is a factory-manufactured, modular building, designed and built by Wernick Buildings.

Positioned on a steeply sloping piece of land, the first floor which is level with the concourse on one side, houses administrative offices and a large ground-floor room houses the 3-D Department and the occasional exhibition of students' work.

A design-and-build modular contract will generally be far more cost-effective than a traditional build design.

The 16 modules that comprised the Plymouth College of Art and Design contract were delivered on two consecutive Saturdays, with finishing work taking just 16 weeks.

A similar traditionally built structure would take in the region of 36 weeks to complete.

A greatly reduced on-site time scale is particularly important in a densely populated area, particularly at a school or college campus.

With modular build, most of the construction is done at the factory so the amount of heavy plant on a client's site is dramatically reduced, thus minimising environmental impact on the area and reducing health-and-safety risks.

The site for the new building is steeply sloping and 30m3 of soil had to be removed and two retaining walls built.

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