Shouksmiths goes modular at Manor Mills in Leeds

Quicker, safer and cleaner – these are the key benefits of prefabrication techniques, according to Carl Turner, the Shouksmith Group’s m&e project manager on the £26.4 million Manor Mills residential development project in Leeds. The building services contract, worth £2.4 million, is one of several ‘complete package’ projects delivered by Shouksmiths in the past four years.

What made Shouksmiths’ solution for the Manor Mills project challenging was the client’s decision to use more than 300 high-specification prefabricated bathroom pods, designed with residential designer Yoo and manufactured by Gateway Pods in east Yorkshire. The pods were delivered on site as completed units – with showers, toilets, baths, lighting and even mirrors in place. Each pod arrived ready plumbed so it could be slotted into place ready for plumbers and electricians to make straightforward connections.

“Although we have been using bathroom pods for several years, this is the first time we have used them on this scale, in a private development and to such a high technical and design specification,” says Turner. “The result has been very positive, with important cost and time savings for the client, improved site efficiency, improved quality control and better health and safety, all because the pods were erected at the factory, rather than on site. We estimate we have saved an average five working days on each pod.”

According to Turner, off-site construction of the pods also brought environmental benefits by reducing the traffic to and from the site, as well as reducing construction waste by producing the pods in a lean manufacturing environment, rather than on site, where building materials are typically oversupplied.

The Manor Mills project is located in the up-and-coming Holbeck urban village, close to Leeds City Station, and it is a joint development with the award-winning Yorkshire-based company KW Linfoot and Yoo. The project comprises 278 smart pads and studios, as well as one and two-bedroom apartments over nine floors with supporting office facilities. The main contractor on the project, Ocon Construction, completed its design-and-build contract at the end of 2008.

Shouksmiths, based in York, is a family-run business with almost two centuries of experience providing plumbing, heating, electrical and specialist contract services. It has worked on projects for KW Linfoot since 1990 and has a very positive working relationship with the developer.

The ‘complete package’ that Shouksmiths delivered at Manor Mills, working alongside its trading division Morfitts, which carried out the electrical elements of the works, is proving increasingly popular with a number of its clients in the commercial, industrial and large residential sectors. Combining the skills of both Shouksmiths and Morfitts means the company can offer a seamless integrated solution that includes all mechanical, electrical, plumbing and specialist services.

One point of contact

“The personal relationships, previous experience and wide skill base offered to clients when our two organisations work together not only makes complex site programming and co-ordination easier, but it also streamlines the process by providing one point of contact for the professional team, which was an important factor in the success of the Manor Mills project,” says John Miller, Shouksmiths managing director.

Liaising with the client, the architectural team created 3D models in the early stages of the design to ensure not only that the building was fit for purpose but that the internal layout of the apartments would meet end-users’ aesthetic expectations. Drawings were then sent to main contractor Ocon to distribute to gain approvals from all the key players, and architectural drawings were sent to Shouksmiths for its input on the floor layouts and any alterations.

When Shouksmiths took on the contract in 2007, an initial outline m&e brief was provided by Terry Gilfillan, m&e consultant for KW Linfoot. Shouksmiths then worked this outline up to a full practical and constructable design that would meet both the client’s design needs and its budget constraints.

Each apartment in the project was designed as a standalone unit with its own consumer unit, low-energy lighting and individual, thermostatically controlled electric heaters. One of the special m&e design requirements was the low-energy light systems, which include fluorescent luminaires, dichroic downlighters and lower-energy pendants, as well as spotlights on tracks specified by Yoo.

Once m&e work got under way on site in June 2007, weekly meetings were then held between Shouksmiths and the client’s m&e consultant to discuss and approve all aspects of the contract.

It is critical to ensure that the offsite manufacture of the pods is carried out under closely controlled conditions and that the pods themselves are manufactured to very tight tolerances

Delivery of the prefabricated pods started in July 2007 and was completed by mid-December. Initially the pods had to be hoisted into place by crane. Work started on the first fit as soon as the first pods had been delivered, with work on the second fit getting under way early in December. Turner explains how Shouksmiths sought to prevent any difficulties arising during the delivery and installation of the pods on site.

“Early in the project Shouksmiths identified the position of soil stacks running vertically up the building floor by floor to allow the floor slabs to be core-drilled. Sound co-ordination was required to ensure that the pods were positioned to fit in with the intended wall layout and also with the rising stack positions that were defined by the core-drilled holes.

“The main challenge then was co-ordinating with the other trades to ensure the seamless incorporation of the pods into the building and connection with the mains services.”

Positive experience

Miller says Shouksmiths will carry forward several positives to its next project.

“This project has been a great success and has confirmed our previous experience that pods used correctly can save time and money. A key lesson learned has been the significant benefits to be had from a better co-ordination of m&e services, particularly with distribution of the services throughout the building from the plant rooms.

“If I had to identify anything we would do differently next time, it would be to ensure earlier involvement with the professional team prior to construction commencing to remove some of the co-ordination issues that arose during construction.

Early input

“We also found that early input is needed from m&e design, architects and pod manufacturers, prior to the drawings being produced, to ensure it will work.

“I would say to any other companies who want to use prefabricated techniques for such items as bathroom pods that, while there are important benefits to using this system, it is critical to ensure that the offsite manufacture of the pods is carried out under closely controlled conditions and that the pods themselves are manufactured to very tight tolerances.

“We did find that, when we were connecting up the pipework inside the pods, some of the pods and pipework positions varied slightly in size.”

This article was originally published in EMC March 09 as Leeds United