Site Accommodation Background
Site accommodation is originately a vital component during construction implementation, wherever the urban or rural area the project location is. When people talk about the project, especially the infrastructure like railways, bridges and river dams, an image that the wild, windy and harsh enviorment remotely will come to your mind.
Construction workers are normally flowing population. They come from home to join a project, until it complete then move forward to the next one, not staying one place for longer time. On the other hand, their wages are relatively low, in some contries the living environment is rather bad with many people crowded in sleeping in one big room. During Covid-19 this sitation has been worse, and awaken society’s more attention to their health and safety.
How could construction workers live to work in such conditions? With time being, There are vast of ways to accommodate the site workers such as nearby hotel, apartment, cement&brick house, RV, K-house, prefabricated house as well as folding modular houses.
Key factors evaluating construction site accommodations
- Compliance
Contractors have to comply with the local legal labor law regulations and industrial practices such as ACT446 in Malaysia. For some construction group subsiadaries or major project, they need to follow the group standard for temporary housing of construction.
- Cost-effective
As a project manager, he has to take full charge of the project P&L. A cost effective house is essential for overall budget control. He may consider the capital investment from purchasing the house, or hire a house with expense OPEX way.
- Safety
As the construction sites face complex risks like falling objects, theft, wind, fire and thunder as well as COVID -19 in last 3 years. The site accommodation should consider to protect workers from those potential threats.
- Convenience of installation and transportation
Some projects are facing tight schedule and so the quick-to-run is first priority. If the workers accommodation can transported and installed in a short time, it will speed up project progress and success.
- Green sustainability
With global call to reduce carbon emission and mutual efforts, people have applied green environmental protection and technologies in construction. When the project is completed, the waste can be minimized and reduced to fulfill environmental requirements.
Benefits of folding modular houses bring to project
Site accommodation with folding modular houses can benefit a lot attributing to four features below,
First of all, its compliance with overall standard and practices of most countries. With a 14m2 room each, contractors can allocate 4 persons below 3m2 Dormitory minimum requirement. With sandwich board of rock wool and 15mm Glass magnesium floors, it can support A level anti-fire, wind resistance level 10 and Seismic rating level 8.
Second, the folding modular houses are easy to transport and installation. With a 17.5m truck, 26 houses can be carries once to the sites to save cost and time. Even a crane on the truck and two workers can easily install the house in 10 minutes.
Thirdly, procurement cost of folding modular house is relatively lower than normal houses with less than 1500USD/set, you can get a lot margin room comparing with local USD10,000 construction house (as in Africa housing cost).
Lastly, the folding modular house is made of steel with frame of Q235B standard, it can be recycled and sustainable lifecycle over 10 years. Project managers or house owners can easily fold the house and carry back to warehouse for a quick cleaning & maintenance, then get ready for next project in future.
Outlook of site accommodation with folding modular house
Folding modular houses are mostly widely used in China especially applied for some infrastructure projects. In Africa, Middle east region it has recieved many applied cases as well. We, Fulinkaitai, believe its future better adopted by more and more contractors and site rental companies, as its green, clear and convenient nature. The site accommodation is no more a headache of project managers.