Build Sustainable Awards 2016

Build 2016 Sustainable Building Awards 32 Company: Springfield Mobile Name: David Lee Address: Springfield Mobile Ltd Unit 2, 12 Abbotsfield Road, Sutton, St Helens, WA9 4HU Telephone: 01744 851958 Email: [email protected] Web Address: www.spring-field.co.uk pringfield has over 40 years’ experience in providing high quality modular portable buildings primarily in the UK. Managing Director Lyndsey Duggan is the second generation of the family who founded the business and has seen the company grow from a turnover of £2.4M in 2012 to over £5M in 2016. From its headquarters and manufacturing base in St Helens, Springfield designs and manufactures all of its customer solutions, giving the company absolute control over both the quality of its portable buildings but also control over the supply chain to ensure the raw materials and components used are sourced locally and sustainably. This control ensures that the company has the ability to offer its customers incredible flexibility in both the buildings provided to customers and the services offered in terms of full turnkey installations to a range of hire solutions. As testament to its national capability Springfield has recently completed a major installation at Newham College in East London. Following on from the area’s regeneration after the 2012 London Olympics, and boasting Europe’s second highest proportion of graduates continued growth meant that the college’s 10 year building plan needed a company to supply a turnkey two storey classroom project comprising eight classrooms in total. As an established supplier to the educational sector Springfield’s understanding of the key sustainability agenda saw them win the £750 000 contract and provide a complete turnkey solution from laying foundations through to commissioning services and completing installation within the tight deadlines defined by only having site access during college holidays. These high quality classrooms offer high degrees of energy efficiency and are fully compliant to all necessary building regulations and offer a genuinely low environmental impact through the speed of installation and minimised waste. Also, given the quality of individual installations, the operational lifetime of building mean they can genuinely re-used in a variety of locations throughout a period of ten to twenty years. Looking ahead, the future for the sustainable building industry looks bright, and whilst these sustainable credentials are both important and established factors in the company’s strong local government and educational presence the challenge faced by Springfield is to take this to broader commercial markets. Here the focus on the use of renewable and sustainable cladding such as Larch adds a new aesthetic dimension to portable buildings. Already this is being recognised through innovative partnerships, Manchester City Council now works exclusively with Springfield to fulfil its requirement for temporary buildings in areas such as education caused by increasing pressure on numbers caused by issues such as immigration. Larger and more established industry operators were considered but couldn’t match the flexibility, choice and quality of supply provided by Springfield. Working with the Modular and Portable Building Association (MPBA) has ensured the industry and Springfield in particular has moved far beyond what was once expected of a portable building, where modern technology can help extend building lifecycles to beyond 50 years, providing the same functionality and ergonomics of traditional buildings but with in-built sustainability. Ultimately, in many ways the relationship with Manchester City Council is an ideal template for future growth for Springfield Mobile. This recognises the value modular buildings offer on a short term basis, where once projects are completed modules can be professionally refurbished and put to new uses, creating the ultimate low impact sustainable building resource. Springfield Mobile Best Portable Building Firm 2016 - UK Springfield Mobile is a family firm with over four decades’ worth of experience providing portable buildings across the UK, with a focus on supporting the education sector. We invited David Lee to talk us through the firm and the industry in which it operates. S AR160018