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Waco predicts 10% rise in offsite sales
16:36 25 May 2005
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The expansion of the UK market for offsite construction is set to jump to 10% a year, according to Waco UK managing director Peter Worlledge.
Waco UK is the new trading name for the £60m-a-year turn-over business resulting from the £31m acquisition last autumn by Premier Transline of Interlink Building Systems, a former competitor. Interlink was set up in 1997 and has its headquarters in East Yorkshire. It employs 106 people in the temporary buildings market.
Premier’s manufacturing facility is near Hull and it has 200 employees. The focus is more on high-specification permanent buildings for schools and hospitals.
Worlledge emphasised that Waco UK has strong links with construction companies such as Mace, Bovis Lend Lease and Multiplex Construction.
“The markets for temporary and permanent pre-fabricated buildings are growing equally fast,” said Worlledge.
“We offer the full range from basic onsite cabins that only stay during the build period, to high-spec multi-storey units that are robust and a long-lasting part of the building solution.
“When Waco is working on the latter, we get involved in the design stage and can work with the contractor, architect, quantity surveyor or client. The application and type of fit-out will affect the ratio of onsite and offsite fabrication,” he added.
“With schools, we have done individual classrooms up to the whole school and are working on City Academies with HBG.
“Our hospital contributions include operating theatres, an MRI scan suite and wards. And in the primary healthcare area we do doctors’ surgeries.
“The pods can be robust, particularly those with a solid steel frame and will stack up to five stories high with no external support.”
Asked to list the merits of off-site construction, Worlledge said: “It is quicker and less prone to weather problems. It can be cheaper and it offers greater certainty.”
Waco UK is part of a south African-based global group called Waco International.
Waco UK is the new trading name for the £60m-a-year turn-over business resulting from the £31m acquisition last autumn by Premier Transline of Interlink Building Systems, a former competitor. Interlink was set up in 1997 and has its headquarters in East Yorkshire. It employs 106 people in the temporary buildings market.
Premier’s manufacturing facility is near Hull and it has 200 employees. The focus is more on high-specification permanent buildings for schools and hospitals.
Worlledge emphasised that Waco UK has strong links with construction companies such as Mace, Bovis Lend Lease and Multiplex Construction.
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“The markets for temporary and permanent pre-fabricated buildings are growing equally fast,” said Worlledge.
“We offer the full range from basic onsite cabins that only stay during the build period, to high-spec multi-storey units that are robust and a long-lasting part of the building solution.
“When Waco is working on the latter, we get involved in the design stage and can work with the contractor, architect, quantity surveyor or client. The application and type of fit-out will affect the ratio of onsite and offsite fabrication,” he added.
“With schools, we have done individual classrooms up to the whole school and are working on City Academies with HBG.
“Our hospital contributions include operating theatres, an MRI scan suite and wards. And in the primary healthcare area we do doctors’ surgeries.
“The pods can be robust, particularly those with a solid steel frame and will stack up to five stories high with no external support.”
Asked to list the merits of off-site construction, Worlledge said: “It is quicker and less prone to weather problems. It can be cheaper and it offers greater certainty.”
Waco UK is part of a south African-based global group called Waco International.
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