COVID-19 restrictions have driven the healthcare, education and social housing sectors to seek out more efficient, offsite construction solutions to deliver on rapid build programmes in 2020/2021
Horizon Offsite was established in 2017 by some of the most experienced names in engineering, led by Managing Director Ger Fahey. The construction manufacturer provides structural light gauge steel products for use in the construction of walls, floors, ceilings and roofs. The fully-accredited Horizon Offsite structural building system encompasses an in-house design team expert in offsite construction technologies, manufacturing through the Horizon Offsite facility in Cahir, County Tipperary and installation of the system on site by the team of Horizon-certified installers. This innovative approach to offsite building sees the Horizon team working one to one with clients to meet their every design and building specification.
Horizon Offsite has seen demand in both Ireland and the UK markets grow significantly over the past four years, with output doubling year on year for 2019 and 2020. The pace of this growth is on track to continue throughout 2021 as the Horizon Offsite team takes on more rapid delivery hospitals and healthcare facilities, education facilities and social housing projects nationwide. On foot of this rapid growth, the company has recently expanded its Tipperary facility in excess of 30,000sq.ft., with an additional 7,000 sq.ft. of office space. The facility has the current capacity to process in excess of one million linear metres of steel per annum, which translates into approximately 1,000 residential units annually.
The fully-accredited Horizon Offsite building system is perfectly suited to the fast-track delivery of housing, apartment blocks, hospital accommodation and other healthcare facilities, commercial and industrial developments. Throughout the initial lockdown, the Horizon Team ramped up capacity, operating in two shifts, to deliver on essential healthcare and social housing projects right across the country. The company has evolved from working on mid-sized projects to much larger scale projects that are, according to the management team, more complex in terms of buildability and with much shorter build programmes. Under this rapid delivery model, Horizon Offsite will routinely be approached by the hospital procurement teams and then appointed by the hospital authority directly, from that point, use of the fully-certified Horizon Offsite light gauge steel framing system is nominated or novated to the main contractor. And this is not just happening for public sector work, increasingly, the Horizon Offsite building system is being specified by design teams as the optimum way to deliver on build programme.
Industry demand for offsite construction, across Ireland and the UK, is growing and this growth is not all driven by Covid-19. While the pandemic certainly accelerated MMC (modern methods of construction) adoption, this is building upon the increased awareness of the inherent benefits of offsite construction. It is a comprehensive or holistic solution, ensuring frictionless execution of design, and overall compliance with building regulations for issues including fire and acoustic performance. This is the primary benefit of a fully-certified building system, as it allows for the speed and certainty of budget that project owners and managers demand.
About Horizon Offsite
Horizon Offsite Ltd is one of Europe’s leading players in Offsite Construction and Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), providing a fully accredited structural light gauge steel system to the residential, industrial, commercial, healthcare and educational sectors. Contact the Horizon Offsite team at https://www.horizonoffsite.ie