Healthcare Construction

Our approach dramatically reduces the on-site phase of the programme as only 10% of the building fit out remains before commissioning takes place. It also drastically reduces the programme as a whole as the off-site phase of the programme can run concurrently with the enabling works, meaning our clients get use of their additional capacity sooner.

Programmes are also able to be fixed because we design out the risks to programme associated with traditional construction; we call in a detailed schedule of materials just as they are need and avoid delays associated with weather as we are manufacturing indoors. Moving from an indoor manufacturing centre to a up to 90% complete weather tight facility means that weather delays are no longer a risk (apart from the short period of module installation) allowing us to know exactly how long each task will take having completed them many times before.

We reduce the risk of cost increases as we are able to tightly manage the supply and use of materials, only ordering what is needed and avoiding waste. Our design team produces a procurement schedule so that the correct quantities and specification of materials are ordered and received at the correct time, minimising off cuts and unused materials. This is what enables us to provide a fixed cost for each project.

It also enables the procurement of all materials and equipment earlier in the construction process and closer to the order date which removes price increase and inflationary challenges often seen on traditional construction projects.

We have a culture of process and product improvement with a firm belief that each project should benefit from the lessons of the last. Our healthcare facilities have been designed alongside clinical professionals for decades and hold the experience of the end users, both patients and staff, at the centre of our endeavours.

Process improvement (PI) is a critical part of our day-to-day operations. We have developed a bespoke Quality Assurance (QA) and PI system to ensure that every lesson learned on every project we deliver is captured and corrective action taken to prevent it from happening again. This process involves a weekly meeting with director oversight and representatives from every department who review each potential improvement raised from the previous week and assign corrective action to a relevant individual. The output of this also directly feeds into our electronic QA system that means each facility we manufacture goes through 1,000s of rigorous checks and inspections prior to its delivery.

ModuleCo has key supply chain partners which we have worked with for many years developing relationships and sharing experience to ensure a smooth procurement process and the best value for our clients.

These contractors are also experts in our approach and our expectations from a design deliverables perspective, the amount of off-site assembly we expect and working on congested acute hospital sites. By using the trusted supply chain partners, our clients benefit from the combined experience of previous projects we have delivered together.

By transferring tradespeople and construction processes into our controlled manufacturing environment, we reduce the opportunity for hazards and accidents on the construction site. It also means we use a reduced amount of on site accommodation and need less space for storage of materials and therefore take up less space overall.

By spending less time on site there is less disruption to local residents, hospital staff and patients. As a result there is a shorter period of noise pollution, restriction to car parking, disruption to blue light routes and other aspects of an active hospital estate that are crucial to its ongoing operation. This ultimately leads to a more positive stakeholder experience for the creation of new healthcare facilities, particularly during the public outreach phase of the project.

We take a “fabric first” design approach in choice of materials for our healthcare facilities. It helps us produce industry leading thermal transmittance and air permeability performance, reducing the operational carbon emissions of our facilities, and reduces the quantity of materials required by selecting ones that are more sustainable (reusable and recyclable) and more appropriate for a factory assembly process, reducing the embodied carbon of our facilities.

By maximising the principle of off-site construction, we mitigate the sustainability issues associated with more conventional construction: we use less materials and create less waste; we can re-use and recycle more, diverting unused materials or offcuts from landfill; we avoid damage and delays caused by weather; and we reduce project transport emissions by minimising the materials and tradespeople heading to site. This process also means that only 10% of the construction process need to be ‘undone’ to allow the modules to be relocated to another site, meaning the client’s investment allows for a potential change of need in the future.

Our in-house design team has decades of experience combining our specialist off-site manufacturing techniques and specialist healthcare design. We offer a comprehensive design package, taking your healthcare project from concept design and planning applications all the way through to as-built drawings. We have total control and authority to apply the appropriate resource to be assigned to each project and are not reliant on the resources or availability of external design houses. This means we are able to control the cost of this element if some tasks take longer than originally planned and there are multiple revisions required to obtain client sign off and agreement. It also removes the need to appoint external architects to the project and reduces costs for our clients.

We do not procure pre-assembled modules built by someone else. Instead we utilise our 15,000m2 manufacturing campus to assemble our bespoke chassis and steel superstructures. Our modules are designed and built by us specifically for our client’s site and the healthcare environment using our pioneering ‘factory first’ approach to maximise the off-site phase of the project. Unlike other modular healthcare facility providers, ModuleCo arranges the modules in the factory as a complete facility as they would be on-site. This is what enables us to progress fit-out to be up to 90% factory complete. It also means the co-ordination of the partitioning and M&E services can be precisely QA inspected and ensure there are no issues when the modules are installed in their final location on site.

During this stage of a project we invite our clients to visit their facility while it is being assembled, in particular the end users and the engineering teams to inspect and provide a pre-delivery snagging assessment of their facility. During the factory phase we also issue weekly photo update reports so even away from the factory our clients can see the progress being made.

Having built hundreds of healthcare facilities throughout the UK and abroad, we have a wealth of experience that comprised of lessons learned, facility design improvements, specification changes, compliance with legislation, efficient methodology, knowledge of HBN/HTM guidelines and their optimum derogations, all of which brings benefits to projects we deliver to our clients and ultimately to their key stakeholders and end users.

The benefits of our vast experience and process improvement culture can only be realised through continuity. We have always had an in-house project management team, specialising in healthcare, who travel to our client’s site to deliver the project. This ensures the effective transfer of experience and that our high standards in quality, health and safety and so on are maintained, further minimising risk to the project.

The team who work on the building during off-site construction also travel with the facility to site, providing continuity in process and quality by minimising the need for additional hand-offs.