Authority considers offsite construction for 25 schools

The emerging offsite construction industry will change the shape of contracts, Smartlife chief executive Kevin Scobell told CJ last week.

The Cambridgeshire County Council spin-off company is talking to manufacturers to solve a schools shortage in Cambridge-shire. Smartlife is also helping to set up a recycling centre for construction waste in the region.

Scobell said involving the supply chain will change PFI contracts. He said: "New and innovative forms of contracting are part of the process. The construction industry will probably be going the same way as the Highways Agency in the way it awards contracts. The contractor has to provide the capacity to do whatever’s needed – that’s the way the construction industry can deliver."

Smartlife is developing standard components for the region’s planned 25 schools.

Scobell said Smartlife will build a prototype school by the 2007/2008 academic year and will then look to apply methods and materials to the 25 schools planned by Cambridgeshire County Council by 2015.

He added: "Some of the key players are already in the market, but we want to involve as many manufacturers as possible, so when we eventually go out to tender we have got all the potential innovation. We’re looking for which processes deliver the cost that local authorities want."

Smartlife also plans to work with waste manager the Dickerson Group to set up a £2.8m recycling facility in Cambridgeshire. Scobell said the firm wants to address contractors’ changing needs.

"The planners and local authorities are asking contractors to build higher densities of homes. They don’t have the space to pile up demolition materials any more. There’s a market to process the material for them and bring it back at the right time," he said.