Portakabin hands over largest office building at nuclear power station
York-based modular specialist Portakabin has delivered its largest office building at EDF Energy’s Hinkley Point C site, the first nuclear power station to be built in the UK in nearly 30 years.
The latest scheme takes the value of Portakabin buildings provided on the Hinkley site, which when completed will supply 7% of the UK’s electricity, to around £5m since 2011.
The latest contract awarded to Portakabin was for a 3,450 sq m office and welfare building for staff and contractors working on the Hinkley Point C project.
The three-storey ‘East Office Annex’ provides desk space for more than 220 staff working on the civil construction; meeting and IT rooms; welfare accommodation for the site workforce including 1,200 lockers, changing rooms, showers, and drying space; and a 450-seat multi-use canteen which will serve around 1,350 meals a day.
Portakabin has been supplying buildings at Hinkley Point since the 1960s. Previous projects on the ‘C’ site have included offices, a canteen, security building, a visitors’ centre and most recently, two office buildings for Kier BAM.
Robert Snook, director and general manager at Portakabin, said: “This is a highly regulated infrastructure site with large amounts of construction work in progress, so the installation of a large office and welfare building required very detailed logistical planning. As a result, we delivered the building as complete as possible to minimise any on-site works.
“The use of modular construction radically reduced vehicle movements to site which was an important requirement for the client who are restricting deliveries to minimise any disruption to the neighbouring areas.
“We have already delivered many projects on the three Hinkley Point sites spanning more than 50 years, and so are really delighted to have handed over this latest and our largest contract to date.”
