Industrial temporary buildings can be the best choice when:
- You need space for storage, processing, manufacturing or other business function on site, quickly and economically.
- You have space for a temporary building on site that is currently being used and you may want to switch back to its original function after the building is no longer needed.
- The building is needed for no more than a few years and you want to be able to take it down easily once it is no longer needed.
- You need a strong, customizable and economical building solution.
- You need a building that can be easily extended or reduced in size.
- The building can be erected in a few days.
What Are Your Options When You Need More Covered On-site Space?
If you need more operational space on site, you have a number of options. Maybe you’re short of storage and are thinking about getting some shipping containers on site. This is probably the cheapest and most flexible option. You can add or remove containers quickly, but your storage space is scattered about your property or even offsite. You could be short of office space so you’re looking at prefabs. At the other end of the spectrum, you could be looking at permanent steel-framed or bricks and mortar buildings. This is the expensive option and it takes the longest to plan and erect. It’s also permanent and could leave you with an unused building that would have to be demolished if you no longer needed it.
For more and more companies, the perfect, middle ground solution is aluminium-framed temporary buildings. These are quick to put up, give you the space you need under one roof and can be demounted and moved or recycled when no longer needed. However, a ‘temporary’ building can also last a very long time. They are designed to meet all local maximum wind speeds and snow loads. This ensures that they are strong and built to last. As they are modular, it’s also easy to replace sections of walls or roofs.
There are a few factors to consider when making this decision but here are the important ones. Many of these are obvious to building and facilities managers but knowing that you can do it all with a temporary building is the important part.
What Do You Need The New Building For?
An aluminium-framed building is ideal if you need warehouse storage, workshop space, for production, manufacturing, recycling or materials processing. They are also used for sports, exhibition and event halls; classrooms, lecture halls and exam rooms; airport and port buildings; and as various retail buildings.
The strong aluminium frame is tailored to your needs, quick to erect and provides uninterrupted space across the full width of the building. Walls are made from steel corrugated panels for strength. These can be doubled up and a foam layer added between them to provide insulated sandwich panel walls.
In the UK, roof panels are usually constructed from industrial-strength PVC sheets. These come in three configurations depending on the requirement. Single skin sheets are used in non-insulated buildings. A second skin can be added to collect and remove condensation where it is a problem. Finally, sealed double skin panels trap a layer of air and provide insulated roofing.
As these temporary buildings are modular, they can be constructed with and without elements as required. Consequently, by excluding wall sections to provide unfettered access for large delivery and materials handling vehicles, open canopy structures can be built.
However, if you need to keep goods or processes protected from the weather, walls are included to provide a non-insulated temporary building. But if you need a temperature-controlled work environment, insulated walls and roof panels are easily substituted. And if you need extra offices inside an insulated building, you can make it taller, add a mezzanine floor and build whatever office space you need.
Except for processes or research that require hermetically sealed buildings, there’s not a lot that temporary buildings can’t be used for.
How Much Space Do You Need?
Temporary buildings are built in 5m increments to achieve the desired building length. The width is fully customizable from 5m up to 30m and is a cantilever span that does not require pillars or posts to hold up the roof. This provides a clear-span interior ready for whatever the business requires. Wall heights can be up to 8.3m to accommodate second floors, upper windows, or tall roller shutter or segmented doors.
In planning any new building, you must work out how much space you need including all the extras that will go into the building. Work out where doors and windows will go and what you need for light and temperature control.
Temporary buildings don’t always need to have the comprehensive drainage and plumbing solutions of a permanent building. However, you should know what will be required and plan for where it will go, even if it’s just a sink. The same goes for power. You’ll need electricity to the building but working out where lights and powered doors will be sited allows you to plan the supply distribution around the building in the same way you would with a permanent building.
Size requirements could also affect one dimension of the building rather than the whole volume available. For instance, tall warehouse racking will need high walls and roof. Similarly, a workshop for yachts may need to be tall enough to accommodate masts and keels. If a building is going to need a mezzanine floor it will also have to be tall enough for this to fit over the operational space below.
Access doors on a large vehicle workshop may need to be big enough for fire engines, aircraft, heavy plant or trains. And once inside, there must be enough room to work comfortably on these vehicles and store the tools needed for the process.
While it’s more important to get it right at the outset for permanent building, if you have the space, the length of a modular building can also be extended or reduced after it’s been erected.
Aluminium-framed temporary industrial buildings are regularly used for a wide range of business activities. The inclusion of equipment for any of the following will impact on space requirements:
- Production
- Materials processing
- Recycling
- Assembly
- Vehicle maintenance
- Warehousing
- Goods movement
- Tool storage
- Power handling and distribution
- Lighting
- Temperature control (in insulated buildings)
- Offices
How Long Do You Need The Building?
As temporary buildings can be used in the short term or long term, their flexibility has allowed for different ownership options. For short term, seasonal, or temporary use with a known timescale for the building’s use, renting may be a viable option. The contract can always be extended but once it is terminated, you know the building can be taken down and taken away. Alternatively, it can be purchased outright, moved, increased or reduced in size or added to with another building. Once again, this flexible building solution provides far more options than permanent buildings.
If the requirement for the building is longer term, buying is usually the preferred choice. As a planned permanent feature, a concrete pad may even be laid for the building to be erected on.
What Are The Alternatives To Temporary Industrial Buildings?
Steel framed buildings have ostensibly the same structural layout as their aluminium-framed cousins but they are designed to be permanent. This means that they need foundations. They are used much more in agriculture where they don’t need to be much more than open or enclosed barn equivalents.
Bricks and mortar construction is used when a building is planned for years of use. It’s the permanent solution but the only way to remove one is to demolish it, remove the rubble and fill in the foundations. You’re also paying a lot more for a permanent bricks and mortar building.
Smaller units that can be added or removed more easily are usually shipping containers or prefabricated buildings. Both are much more limited in space but can be added or removed as needed. Shipping containers are simply secure boxes but can be brought together and have even been used as the basis for houses. Prefabs are more often used as additional rooms on site and are regularly used for offices and school classrooms.
A temporary building constructed with a mezzanine floor provides both office and operational space under one roof. As long as you have the space for it you can tailor the building size to what you need. It will be strong enough to last and yet can be disassembled and removed. Temporary buildings provide everything the alternatives do but with few of the downsides.
How Quickly Can An Aluminium-Framed, Modular Building Be Erected?
Temporary buildings can be erected in a few days on many different surfaces without the need for concrete foundations.
Permanent structures require a longer installation process that includes drainage, concrete foundations and plumbing. The groundworks required for these permanent services are not always required for temporary buildings. As an example, they can be built on an existing car park to maintain business continuity while an old or damaged building is renovated or repaired. Alternatively, you might need to store additional seasonal products for a short time. Once the temporary building is no longer needed it can be taken down, moved, sold or returned if it is being rented. You then reinstate the car park.
Watch our timelapse of two temporary buildings being erected next to each other.
How Much Does A Temporary Building Cost?
One of the biggest advantages of temporary buildings is their low cost when compared to alternatives. They can be up to 70% cheaper to install than an equivalent permanent building built from bricks and mortar. And steel framed structures need heavy plant to manouveur the steel framework into place on pre-built foundations. Aluminium framed temporary buildings are strong but much lighter and don’t need either heavy plant or concrete foundations. They are also cheaper to maintain, and they can return some of the investment when they are no longer needed. Cost are also significantly lower if a temporary building is rented for a short term rather bought outright. This can make them the perfect option for startups and small businesses with space but limited budgets. They are also ideal for larger companies expanding quickly or needing operational space in the short term.
So, temporary buildings can be the best solution if you need warehousing, workshops, materials handling.