Bathroom pod manufacturer Offsite Solutions has picked up its first contract for its new floorless GRP pods, developed for the build-to-rent sector.
Under a £1.6m contract for ISG, Offsite Solutions will manufacture more than 400 bathroom and shower pods for Cardiff Interchange – an £89m project for developer Rightacres Property, designed by Holder Mathias Architects.
Offsite Solutions’ floorless GRP (glass reinforced plastic) pods allow the bathrooms to be installed directly onto the floor slab, avoiding the ‘step-in’ bathroom feel of budget hotels and cruise ships. It also minimises floor build up for each storey.
Rightacres Property director Jason Hyett said: “We needed little persuading of the advantages of applying offsite construction and a manufacturing process for the bathrooms on this development. The floorless option is an innovative solution to ensuring continuous level floors throughout the apartments. From our initial factory visit, we were impressed with the way Offsite Solutions approached the design process and their flexibility to accommodate our precise requirements at every stage. The first pods look great and we look forward to all the units being delivered to site later this year.”
ISG’s senior design manager, Simon Pritchard, said: “Where there is a high degree of repetition in the bathroom layouts, pods are the ideal solution. The use of offsite construction reduces the number of fit-out trades on site and gives us the benefit of a much faster build programme. We have used Offsite Solutions’ pods on other projects and have found the quality of bathroom manufacture in a factory is consistently improved.”
Offsite Solutions managing director James Stephens said: “We have had a lot of interest from build-to-rent developers in our new enhanced GRP bathroom pods. We have estimated that GRP pods can reduce maintenance costs by over 50% compared to traditionally built bathrooms. The capital costs are around 15% to 20% less than steel-framed bathroom pods. The figures make these new pods a very compelling proposition for developers in the private rental sector.”
Offsite Solutions’ GRP bathroom pods have a panelised construction, creating vertical walls and 90° corners rather than the rounded corners of pods created from single GRP moulds.
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