Offsite Construction – Innovation in Practice

By the Sales Director for Metsec Framing

Productivity, collaboration, innovation and skills are the cornerstones of the government’s most recent construction strategy, published early last year, and still reflects the 2013 joint approach from government and industry. The Construction 2025 ambition focuses on erecting buildings that create less emissions, can be delivered quickly and cost less to build and run over their lifetime.

voestalpine Metsec plc shares the Construction 2025 vision. Located in the heart of the industrial West Midlands, we are the first cold roll forming company to be certified BIM Level 2 for design and manufacture by the BSI – a key element of the national strategy.

BIM (Building Information Modelling) improves accuracy, efficiency, and productivity, resulting in time and cost savings, and it’s really changed the way we approach building design – it’s a crucial tool to ensure the client receives the best performance quality and value for money.

With buildings becoming more complex, planning drawings simply don’t provide enough information and manufacturers must always be at the table in the early stages to get the best long-term response.

The modern construction market is not just about BIM but also methods of construction which enable cost, waste and time savings. Once again, Metsec is at the forefront of innovation when it comes to offsite construction methods – in fact, our first Metframe building was completed in Norfolk in 1984.

Thirty years on, Metframe is now a well-established solution to provide the load bearing structure for low to medium rise structures certified for up to 15 storeys in height, with scope for flexibility in design, making it ideal for residential, hotels, social housing or student accommodation.

Metframe structures can incorporate steel joisted or concrete floors, depending on the client’s requirements. Joisted floors offer a much lighter structure, but concrete floors generally provide a higher level of acoustic and fire protection. Pitched, dormer or flat roofs can be readily incorporated into the system as well as balconies, cantilevers and insets.

As well as flexible design, the Metframe system scores highly on cost saving when compared against timber and volumetric construction and there is no compromise on quality.

Cost savings are also achieved through the speed of build that the system allows, with Metframe structures regularly taking less than two weeks per floor to construct.

Coupled with the energy efficiency and zero waste offered by these buildings, it is not surprising to see so many high profile developments adopting the Metframe system.

Metsec provided its Metframe solution to Genting UK’s £150m Resorts World development in Birmingham. To read more about this case study, click here.

Take a look at Metsec’s pre-panelised steel-framing Metframe system