The research project Commission
The research was commissioned and funded jointly by NPS Property Consultants Ltd. and Essex County Council and carried out on their behalf by an independent researcher, Dr. Christopher French, between May 2005 and May 2006.
Drivers for the Review
The desire to investigate the use of off-site prefabrication on Local Authority school building projects came from a situation where some schools and education project officers were urging designers to use prefabricated systems in the expectation that they would see substantial savings in cost and quicker completions.
Much of this expectation was based upon data provided by the manufacturers of volumetric buildings, and independent information on which to make a decision to use prefabrication or traditional procurement was at best were very hard to come by.
Size of Projects
It was decided at an early stage to restrict the size and location of projects to be studied to small scale buildings of under £0.5m in value to provide either 2 to 4 classbases or a new hall to ensure the review was manageable and useful conclusions could be drawn. The desire to include as wide a sample as possible led to the inclusion, however, of one or two significantly larger projects than the threshold, but this was thought to be a reasonable compromise.
Eastern Region
The property departments of the five shire counties in the eastern region comprising Norfolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Hertfordshire have a good working relationship, often working in partnership, and it was decided that the research would be restricted to these Eastern Region Authorities.
Methodology
The research includes 21 reviews of projects carried out in the Eastern Region Counties since 2001. These projects have a good geographical spread and involve classbases and halls using several different volumetric and panel systems.