Reducing Construction Programmes with Offsite Reinforcing Steel Solutions

The fastest offsite rebar solution – FasterFix Modular Rebar – is a fully offsite prefabricated solution that enables faster, cost effective and efficient on-site construction.
This product is one of the selections of offsite solutions Midland Steel offer who design bespoke rebar elements using a cloud-based BIM process, with full 3D modelling, to deliver an agile and collaborative project process, further enhancing the speed of build. 

The UK and Irish construction sectors are finding their “new normal” due to the global pandemic with prefabricated building solutions providing major assistance with the recovery. In the next few years, significant growth of the prefabricated market is expected with modular contractors and suppliers providing solutions for the ongoing project time pressures and to cope with the lack of traditional construction skills within the industry. 

The reinforcing steel phase of any construction project is known to be a both time-consuming and labour-intensive phase of a build.  Traditionally, 2D drawings and schedules are passed between engineers and contractors for approval over several days – possibly weeks - before the steel is delivered to site in bundles which requires a high labour input over a number of weeks. Overall, the reinforcing steel phase is a typically slow phase with great effort.

With limited effective offsite rebar solutions on available, Midland steel have developed solutions to not only to reduce time during the design and approval phase but offer solutions that can save clients up to 75% of time onsite and reduce labour by 80%. The BIM process Midland Steel developed enables swift and detailed communication between parties to eradicate all delays associated with approvals and design changes. Once approved, the designs are assembled in modular units that have specific features to allow easy and quick installations onsite. Midland Steel’s most popular offsite product is, FasterFix Modular Rebar, an offsite solution for in situ concrete slabs and walls. These modular units can be installed in 5-15 minutes onsite covering an area up to 50m2. The offsite benefits offer a huge potential cost saving for clients due to the time saving, reduction in labour, crane time savings and elimination of waste.

Programme Reductions
At a time where construction programmes have never been as congested, offsite methods of construction has allowed for some improvements and achieving milestones on time since the sector restarted prior lockdown. Midland Steel has seen a stark rise in the use of its most popular offsite rebar solution, FasterFix Modular Rebar, specifically for reducing programmes. Recently, on two hospital rapid builds, this product’s involvement saved at least 3 weeks on both projects due to the swift BIM design and fast onsite installation. The FasterFix product was installed on a 1,500m2 & 1,300 m2 slab in 1.5 days. The time savings associated with offsite solutions are unrivalled. Now, when needed most, offsite rebar solutions can kickstart any project with a huge programme reduction setting a standard for use of offsite construction solutions right at the beginning of a project.

For more information visit: www.midlandsteelreinforcement.co.uk and follow us on Linkedin & Twitter.

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