Caledonian Prefab House / LGS Building, part of the Caledonian Group, has commenced work on a £121 million Ministry of Defence (MoD)/Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) contract for Hercules, a joint venture between Kier Group and Balfour Beatty. The project at Lyneham, Wiltshire, will transform the former RAF airbase into the new Defence College of Technical Training.

As part of Phase I of the overall project, the new facility will provide a total of 1139 bedrooms plus communal rooms and entrance foyers at a value to Caledonian Modular of £27.5m. Specified to an equivalent standard of a three-star hotel, each of the new individual bedroom units installed by Caledonian will comprise wardrobe, desk, lighting and power fittings, an ensuite shower room and curtains. Each individual facility will be 90 per cent fitted out before leaving the Newark-based factory. Caledonian Modular, the UK’s largest offsite volumetric construction company, started offsite factory production of the first units this week. Modules will start to be delivered to site in late September 2014. Onsite construction of the 12 modular buildings is due to be completed and handed over to Hercules by June 2015. MoD staff and students will start to arrive at the college that autumn.

Caledonian’s off site production methods meet Hercules’ criteria on sustainable construction. The project has a DREAM (Defence Related Environmental Assessment Methodology) Excellent rating. Over 25% of the module can be manufactured from A+ rated product of which some 25% are from recycled sources. The company typically recycles 97.5% of its factory waste. Offsite construction means an 80% reduction in traffic to site of product and people.

The Caledonian Group Managing Director, Derrick Tyler said;

“We won Phase I of the Lyneham project in a competitive tender. Offsite construction offers best value, speed and ease of construction to the MOD as it continues in its programme to upgrade the defence estate.

“Caledonian Modular has a long history of delivering high value projects to the MOD. We have delivered 13,000+ Single Living Accommodation (SLA) units to 39 sites across England and Wales. In 2003, we began production on Project SLAM, our largest MoD delivery programme and to date we have delivered more than 10,000 SLA on that contract alone.”

Roger Frost, Balfour Beatty Project Director said:

“One of the major benefits of using modular systems in construction projects is that high levels of safety; productivity and quality can be reached for our clients. We are looking forward to working with Caledonian. Our combined work will support the accommodation needs of service men and women here at MoD Lyneham.”

Other key SLA contracts include the ongoing Royal School of Military Engineering (RSME) PFI, the Royal Naval Training Establishment‘Flagship’project at HMS Collingwood, HMS Excellent and HMS Raleigh; and the prestigious MOD Headquarters at Northwood.”