The value of Portakabin buildings at Hinkley Point C has risen to around £5 million.
Hinkley Point C is the first nuclear power station to be built in the UK in nearly 30 years and the site preparation works are now well underway. Once completed, it will supply 7 per cent of the UK’s electricity. The latest contract awarded to Portakabin was for a 3,450m2 office and welfare building. This provides facilities of the highest standards for the increasing number of staff and contractors working on the Hinkley Point C project.
The three-storey ‘East Office Annex’ provides desk space for more than 220 staff working on the civil construction; meeting and IT rooms; welfare accommodation for the site workforce including 1,200 lockers, changing rooms, showers, and drying space; and a 450-seat multi-use canteen which will serve around 1,350 meals a day. Portakabin has a long history of supplying buildings at Hinkley Point since the 1960s. Previous projects on the ‘C’ site have included offices, a canteen, security building, a visitors’ centre and most recently, two office buildings for Kier BAM – all handed over on time and on budget.
The modular construction of the East Office Annex was managed by the Portakabin Hire Centre at Bridgwater, which was expanded following a £3 million investment to offer enhanced local services for major projects in the South West, such as Hinkley Point C. According to Gez Farnsworth, Project Manager, EDF Energy, “Portakabin met all our requirements for build quality, design, flexibility, stringent health and safety standards, and speed of delivery. We wanted an interim building that would maintain the high standard of office accommodation and
welfare facilities that we already have on this site. We also needed the building to be fully operational in a short timeframe.”
“Portakabin has been very responsive in addressing our ongoing design requirements which had to evolve as the project progressed. Their team worked very well with us to ensure the building suited our emerging needs and was still handed over on time. We have been very happy with the service and buildings that Portakabin has provided for us here at Hinkley Point.”
Robert Snook, Director and General Manager at Portakabin said, “This is a highly regulated infrastructure site with large amounts of construction work in progress, so the installation of a large office and welfare building required very detailed logistical planning. As a result, we delivered the building as complete as possible to minimise any on-site works.”
“The use of modular construction radically reduced vehicle movements to site which was an important requirement for the client who are restricting deliveries to minimise any disruption to the neighbouring areas. We have already delivered many projects on the three Hinkley Point sites spanning more than 50 years, and so are really delighted to have handed over this latest and our largest contract to date.”
The project offices were built and fitted out to create a high specification working environment, with ventilation and climate control systems, fire alarms, emergency lighting, data communications, and a lift for disabled access to the upper floors. To reduce work on the Hinkley Point C site, which is one of the UK’s largest and most complex construction projects, Portakabin installed 90 fully-fitted, steel-frame modules in just three weeks.
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