23 Jan Prefabricated Buildings Offer Innovative, Sustainable Home and Business Solutions
Prefabricated buildings, or prefabs, were first conceived as an emergency measure but are now seen as a more affordable alternative to traditional structures. In practice, however, the markedly lower construction cost is just one of several valuable benefits enjoyed by families and businesses who have chosen to invest in this increasingly popular form of accommodation.
Prefabrication refers to assembling most or all of a structure in a factory before transporting it to its intended location. When first introduced, the primary materials used to construct these buildings were timber, plasterboard and galvanised steel. However, used and new shipping containers have since replaced these to provide the fundamental construction blocks for a wide range of modular buildings. Shipping container buildings have innumerable uses and offer users some desirable benefits.
Innovative Uses for Prefabricated Buildings
The shortage of affordable housing in South Africa and worldwide is acute, but shipping container buildings offer a rapid and inexpensive way to solve the shortfall. It only takes a few weeks to convert these steel boxes into a comfortable simplex or duplex with all the bedrooms and bathrooms you need. However, modular buildings also have numerous commercial and industrial uses. For example:
- Site or sales offices for construction companies
- Additional classrooms
- Mobile clinics to serve remote rural areas
- Hostels and ablution blocks for itinerant workers at mines, drilling and construction sites
- Spaza shops
- Laboratory facilities for schools and mines
- Warehousing and bulk storage
- Summer houses, poolside bars and changing rooms
The applications for prefabricated buildings are endless and limited only by one’s imagination. UK’s prestigious Cambridge University recently utilised containers to construct a porter’s lodge.
Benefits of Prefabricated Buildings
At a time when bond rates are climbing, and fewer people have enough residual income to save up for a deposit on a new or used home, modular buildings offer substantial savings. In addition to the versatility demonstrated above, shipping container buildings offer purchasers several other significant plusses.
- Faster completion times
- Transportable by road, rail or sea for fast and easy relocation
- Minimal foundation requirements
- Cheap off-grid power generation with PV panels or generator
- Environmentally friendly, requiring only the limited use of concrete
- Repurposing shipping containers is a more sustainable option
- High durability, ideal for advanced building projects like high-rise apartment and office blocks
- Easily modified or extended to cope with changing needs
- Less disruptive than conventional building methods
Prefabricated Buildings Designed to Order
The engineers and designers at Absolute Containers specialise in bespoke container conversions and have completed numerous innovative shipping container buildings. If you’re interested in the benefits of modular buildings, why not check out some of these to gather a few ideas?