Demand for Offsite Construction continues to increase in the UK's Manufacturing sector

The Portakabin Group is seeing a significant rise in demand for buildings in the manufacturing sector as more organisations look to expand their facilities using off-site construction.  

The Group’s latest project constructed using its Yorkon off-site solutions is for Totally Wicked – the first purpose-designed fluid production and technical facility for electronic cigarettes to be built in the UK.  

The scheme has increased the company’s capacity to over 10 million bottles of premium quality e-liquid every year for the UK, USA and worldwide markets.  

The facility was constructed off site to radically shorten the programme time and reduce disruption to the local community and to the company’s existing operations on the Totally Wicked site in Blackburn.

Finished in anthracite grey with striking chilli red stripes to reflect Totally Wicked’s strong corporate image, the scheme accommodates a new production facility on the ground floor, complete with test room, fluid mixing area, bottling plant and a highly insulated cold room. New offices are located on the upper floor.

The use of a Yorkon off-site solution from Portakabin reduced the build time for the facility to just four months to give Totally Wicked the benefit of earlier occupation. This also allowed production capacity to be increased and facilitated the company’s expansion at an earlier stage.

Commenting on the project, Stuart Mercer, Operations Director at Totally Wicked, said, “We needed this building to help us meet the growing demand for our products both in the UK and for export markets.  It is a cutting edge facility for e-liquid production.”

“We chose an off-site solution because the brownfield site we wanted to develop is very constrained and it was critical to have as little interruption to our operations and to neighbouring properties as possible. The benefits of off-site construction far exceeded those of site-based construction – we could have much less plant and equipment on site, the programme was much shorter, and disruption was minimised.”               

“Following completion we are now ideally placed to take the business to the next level, increasing production in a very clean, modern environment. The finished building fits in really well with our corporate image and we would definitely recommend the approach and the Portakabin Group to other businesses looking to expand their facilities.”

Around 30 people now work from the new building to meet the growing demand for Totally Wicked’s e-liquid products.

Portakabin was principal contractor for the project and managed complex excavations on the challenging sloping site; construction of stone retaining walls; foundations, design, building installation and landscaping.

The building also has a high performance pre-installed Yorkon concrete floor at ground floor level to provide a robust, lasting and clean finish for the production areas. The landscaping included tree planting and an external break-out space for staff.

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