Engineering solutions company, Actavo, has opened a new 120,000 sqft manufacturing facility in Hull, initially expected to create more than 30 jobs.
Offering a boost to local employment, the site has created 33 jobs – a number expected to rise over the coming 12 months. Hull was reportedly selected by Actavo due to the “critical mass of industry and the skilled workforce in the city and surrounding areas”.
The new factory is expected to produce bespoke, cutting-edge modular accommodation for a variety of sectors, including education, healthcare, construction, commercial, rail and defence.
Modular buildings have become more popular in the building industry as the sector struggles against the UK’s well-reported challenge in terms of supply and demand for accommodation – in both the public and private sectors.
It’s estimated that modular buildings currently account for 7-8% of construction GDP in the UK, a figure expected to rise as government increasingly promotes offsite construction.
Actavo Building Solutions’ operations director, Matthew Goff commented: “Government initiatives, such as the requirement for all public sector building projects to be compliant with BIM [Building Information Modelling], are creating the environment for further acceptance of modern methods of construction such as offsite, and major infrastructure projects are also driving up demand.”
Actavo describes itself as being one of the first modular building companies to fully implement BIM Level 2 into its business.
Opposed to traditional construction methods, modular accommodation reportedly offers a faster, cost-effective and more flexible alternative.
The Hull factory comes almost a year to the day since Actavo announced a similar major investment in its manufacturing capability with the opening of a new production facility in Beverley (Yorkshire).
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