London
Albion Street

A modular demountable solution is being explored as the developer only has a 10-year lease on the land, so the asset could be relocated elsewhere at the end of the tenure.

The demonstration is intended to provide high quality data on the costs and technical implications of designing for deconstruction and relocation. In addition it is intended to prototype a modification to a fairly standard structurally insulated panel system to enhance it’s ability to be deconstructed and reused.

 

To provide affordable space on a temporary basis, developers often rely on prefabricated mobile storage units, such as the ubiquitous standard ISO shipping container.

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Expected impacts

We expect to be able to demonstrate that 90% of the building materials will be reusable and that it can be achieved within a similar cost envelope as a non-demountable building. We hope to demonstrate that the whole life value that this solution will bring to the developer will result in cost savings.  

It is expected that the relocatable SIP solution will also benefit from a lower embodied carbon than the baseline.

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Activities done

The CIRCuIT London cluster has worked alongside the appointed team as a critical friend, providing steer, cutting edge technical/advisory support and expert review on flexible, adaptable options.

We commissioned a prototype of a difficult detail in the waterproofing of the SIPS to enable the SIPS to be demounted with the membrane attached, meaning that this can also be reused in the relocated building.

The team has also collated project data which we will use to evaluate the whole life value and environmental impact of the development.

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Demonstrated results 

The prototyping successfully demonstrated the process for deconstructing and reconstructing the panels that were subsequently used to construct the Albion Street project. The prototype has demonstrated that a demountable SIP could be deployed with relatively simple modifications to the existing system. Establishing this was essential for the project team to adopt this construction principle as part of the final design.

 

Whilst whole life carbon and life cycle cost comparisons have yet to been undertaken, it is hoped that this additional work will further demonstrate that any upfront investment in embodied carbon and capital expenditure will be offset by its reusability when the lease expires on the existing site.