Offsite Construction for our Homes and Workplaces

 

Engineered Fasteners for Offsite Construction

As an architect, designer or engineer working on a contemporary building, you have a tough job. There are now challenges that mean you have to build with greater accuracy and precision than ever before. Engineered Fasteners are one way to help create buildings that meet these demands.

 

New challenges for a new generation of buildings

The challenges are complex and varied but they fall into three main categories: Environmental, Economic and Social.

The Environmental demands are high. You must design a building that has very low or zero carbon emissions during the construction phase and the lifetime of the building. You will be very aware of the pressure to drive down costs. And in the UK there is a commitment from government to rapidly build more housing. Especially affordable social housing.

As a result, there is an increasing interest in Offsite buildings.

 

What is Offsite Construction?

As the name suggests, parts of the building are made in a factory offsite then transported to the building site to be assembled. The parts might be floor cassettes, wall panels and roof modules that are assembled before you install the services. Or, entire modules like bathrooms, student rooms or hospital rooms can be built off site.

Offsite construction can achieve a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Costs for both initial construction and the whole life cost of the asset can be up to a third. The overall time from inception to completion for new build and refurbished assets can be halved.

Because the work is being done in a factory environment there is better quality control. This reduces the amount of snagging. And many tasks can be done at the same time rather than one after the other which saves time.

There is also less waste. the factory environment results in tighter control of materials and the use of CAD/CAM and automation allows material usage to be optimised. As a result, factory production of construction elements can use much lower resource inputs. The reduction in waste compared with on-site construction can be 20-40%.

Safety is another benefit. The accident rates in manufacturing are some 29% less for major injuries and 52% less for fatalities. Therefore, moving construction activities to a factory environment should mean a significant reduction in the number of major injuries and fatalities.

 

Modern Methods of Construction and Building Information Modelling

Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) is a phrase used to describe many of the processes involved in Offsite construction.

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is about the use of computer model data for the effective design, creation and maintenance of building assets. It is intended to lead to a collaborative way of working that is visualised via 3-dimensional computer models.

In BIM the production flow process can be linked to the computer aided design (CAD). This allows for computer aided manufactured (CAM) elements using computer numerical controlled (CNC) machinery. JET PRESS can provide CAD drawings for many of the fasteners and components we supply.

The UK Government, as it states in the Construction 2025 Strategy, is committed to the implementation of BIM for all centrally procured Government contracts. The emphasis is on the industry to meet this challenge given that BIM is seen as a key enabler to delivering more sustainable buildings, more quickly and more efficiently. Importantly BIM is also critical to the successful implementation of a wider offsite manufacturing strategy.

 

The role of Engineered Fasteners in Offsite Modular Construction

Le Corbusier may not have been thinking of this when he talked about a house being a machine for living. But to achieve all the benefits of Offsite construction your building must be more like a machine. With all the precision and fine tolerances that entails.

We can see the potential for a wide range of Engineered Fasteners in MMC construction. So far, the greatest interest has been for Cable and Pipe management products in Offsite Modular Construction.

Bushings and Cable Glands

We supply a range of Bushings and Cable Glands that protect cables and wires that pass through a hole in a panel that may have sharp edges. This is particularly important when the module is being transported. Once the module is in place, Bushings and Cable Glands can improve heat insulation and soundproofing between rooms.

We offer Universal Bushings, Snap Bushings, Strain Relief Bushings and Strain Relief Clamps. We also offer Strain Relief Bushings Installation Tools. Our range of Cable Glands offers even greater protection. Sealing Grommets, as the name suggests, seal the opening through which the cable or pipe passes. We even stock Closed Sealing Grommets for blanking redundant holes in panels.

Cable Glands along with Lock Nuts and O Rings offer an even greater level of protection for cables and pipes passing through panels.

 

Cable Clips and Pipe Clips

We stock a huge range of clips you can use for managing cables and pipes when they are not passing through panels. These include Cable Edge Clips, In Air-Cable Clips and Push-In Cable Clips that can be configured in a huge variety of ways.

Share your challenges with us

Rather than us listing the huge number of Engineered Fasteners you can use in Offsite Construction why don’t you tell us what you need to achieve? Then we can find the fastener that will do the job. In many cases, we can supply samples so you can test out our ideas.

If you would like to know more about fasteners or any other ways we can help you please call our sales team on +44 1623 551 800 email [email protected] or contact us online.