Building bathrooms on site can be a messy business. With so many trades working on the smallest room, it’s not surprising that leaky showers and grubby grouting end up tarnishing the finished product.
So is the solution to take the whole process off site? That’s what the makers of prefabricated bathroom pods argue, and a growing number of homebuilders are being persuaded that they might just have a point. Greater quality control, fewer defects, and cost savings associated with economies of scale are the attractions being promoted by pod manufacturers, and many homebuilders are now either seriously considering trialling their products or are already putting them to the test, like Greenwich Millennium Village.
Gateway Fabrications is one pod manufacturer hoping to clean up in this new market. The company manufactures bathroom pods on four production lines at its factory in Gilberdyke, East Yorkshire. It takes seven days to dry-line a steel carcass with moisture-resistant material and fit it with sanitaryware and fittings. Once the pod is complete, Gateway delivers it to site and works with the developer’s team to fit it into place.
Although director Stuart Beales describes pods as plug in and go, it’s not quite as easy as linking a modem to your computer. For the services of the pod to connect successfully with the main building structure, penetrations for ventilation, plumbing and electrics have to be exact.
Brian Fitzpatrick, construction director at Fitzpatrick Construction, a contractor turned developer, believes smooth fitting of a pod depends on the expertise of the developer’s services engineers. “You must have a professional team that understands the technical problems. We went to watch pods being fitted on another site and learned from the errors made.”
Fitzpatrick also recognises the need to involve pod fabricators early. “Pods demand a lot of input at the front end of the contract. The pods must be in the right position on the original designs.”
It is not only the bathroom dimensions and position that have to be determined; consideration also has to be given to internal fittings. “We have to gently educate architects and builders to understand that early decisions result in crisper production runs,” says Gateway’s Beales. “There are eight or nine suppliers providing up to 50 pieces on a typical job, so any changes in the spec could cause the production line to freeze causing big delays.”
The pod production line is similar to that of a car manufacturer, according to Beales. “In the factory, we can split operations into repeatables so each tradesperson becomes well acquainted with a task.”
The scarcity and rising cost of traditional skilled labour is making the assembly method particularly attractive. “Certain jobs can be deskilled on the assembly line. You don’t need a plumber to bend pipes, for example,” Beales adds.
The factory environment also means Gateway can bulk buy. Cost savings can be passed on to the developer, which also benefits from the fact that materials are stored in the factory rather than on the building site where they are prone to damage.
The first phase of Greenwich Millennium Village includes Gateway bathroom pods. Matt Willcock, senior development manager at developer Taylor Woodrow Capital Developments, says that with a site-built bathroom there are many problems, mainly due to the number of tradespeople involved. “They have to stand on top of each other to get things done. To snag after all these trades have worked on a bathroom is a bit of a nightmare. There are potentially hundreds of things that can go wrong.”
Richard Prynne, managing director of the Southern Homes Counties division of Fairclough Homes, is also aware of the problems of on-site building. “At the moment, leaks and plumbing-related problems are among the top three after-sales issues faced by Fairclough Homes,” he says.
To minimise faults, Gateway carries out tests at its factory for plumbing, electrics, ventilation and waterproofing. It will also do commissioning checks on bathrooms on site in case damage has occurred during transport and fitting. Because of these tests, after-sales issues can be avoided, says Taylor Woodrow’s Willcock. “You don’t have to supervise subcontractors on site because everything’s fitted out in the factory, so the quality of the pod is guaranteed by the fabricator.”
So prefabricated bathrooms at Greenwich are one less thing for Taylor Woodrow to worry about on site, but they haven’t yet been specified for the second tranche of housing. Why not? It all depends on how the costings for the first phase pan out, says Willcock.
At approximately £3000 each, bathroom pods are more expensive than a site-built version. But Gateway claims factors like build speed, quality control and economies of scale can make pods the cost-efficient alternative. Gateway will know whether the figures add up at Greenwich in the next few months.
In the meantime, Gateway’s order books suggest developers are splashing out on bathroom pods in a big way. It expects to shift 1200 residential bathroom pods this year, and forecasts that by year-end March 2001 they will represent 33% of its turnover, up from 5% the previous year.
Prynne’s division of Fairclough Homes expects to trial pods soon. Up till now they haven’t been considered because developments have been too small and irregular, but Prynne believes pods will be cost effective when developments lend themselves to standardisation. Gateway’s Beales concurs. “The pod bathroom tends to be applicable in large schemes where occupancy is guaranteed,” but he adds that “they can also be economical for schemes with as few as 12 dwellings”.
For Beales, a lot of resistance to pods comes from developers that already have a long-established set of subcontractors working for them that they trust. He also acknowledges that having to make choices early in the design process is something developers may have trouble dealing with. Despite these constraints, bathroom pods have clearly arrived, which could mean that building sites become a little less chaotic in years to come.
Source
Building Homes
