| MODULAR BUILDING & CONSTRUCTION INNOVATION |
| MODULAR BUILDING |
Our latest engagement with Modular Building has been on the SEISMIC II project, a full-sized demonstrator for platform based modular buildings. As one of the sponsors, we supplied our icon modular handrail and balustrade, including our patented NODE connection system, for both the staircase and balcony parapet. SEISMIC II brings together a standard frame and connector with core components, including wall, floor, ceiling and roof elements. Designed in line with the main Construction 2025 initiative targets, it excels against all three, offering 75% better efficiency and speed, 70% lower carbon impact, and 47% better value compared with traditional construction methods.
For further information on this project, visit the SEISMIC website.
From post-war Prefabs to the ubiquitous Portakabin, modular buildings are nothing new and for decades they have provided rapidly erected structures for domestic, commercial and industrial needs. Often temporary and mostly utilitarian in nature, they seldom exhibit architectural merit or design sophistication, their main benefit being to fulfil an urgent need for basic accommodation. Now, with the latest digital design technologies, production techniques and hi-tech energy efficient materials, all that is changing and our icon modular handrail systems are an exemplar of the high quality and superior design that is revolutionising contemporary modular building.
SEISMIC II modular handrail system: icon CUBE uprights in Osmium NyMet nylon coated finish; satin finish stainless steel Fin brackets; 45mm dia satin finish stainless steel handrails with Node connections; toughened glass infill panels.
Platform Based Modular Building technology can increasingly cater to larger and more permanent developments in the education, healthcare, sports and leisure, commercial and domestic housing sectors, providing appealing, fit-for-purpose high quality design-led structures.
With up to 90% of a modular building being factory made to higher and more consistent quality standards than conventional builds and able to employ sustainable and energy efficient materials, they can typically be erected and handed over in half the time and half the cost of a conventional build. As such, they offer a highly desirable solution to the need for domestic and commercial accommodation fit for the 21st century.
| MODULAR NODE TECHNOLOGY |
Crucial to the effectiveness of our icon modular handrail systems in modular building applications is our patented NODE connection, which makes the handrail itself truly modular and caters for straight brackets, 90º bends or any rake angle. Rather than conventional long runs of handrail with mitred or machined bends that need highly accurate site surveying and installation, only straight, shorter lengths of handrail fitting between the NODE connections are required. A subtle 0.8mm edge radius makes for a virtually seamless transition along the handrail and the patented design ensures a secure fixing with loads properly transferred to the supports. Such short unitised handrail lengths also facilitate easy transportation, efficient storage and rapid installation. Any minor dimensional adjustments are easily made and the trimmed ends concealed within the NODE itself, preserving the integrity of the high quality factory finish.
At the heart of both our icon modular handrail systems and the latest innovations in modular construction technology lay the guiding principles of Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) and Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA). For over 25 years Handrail Design Limited have been committed to these principles, making our products not only ideally suited to this type of innovative construction method but the only logical choice for both exterior and interior handrailing and balustrade in modular construction environments.
As well as our involvement with the Seismic project, Handrail Design Limited is also a participant in the Construction Innovation Hub, a government backed scheme whose founding partners BRE, Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) and the Centre for Digital Built Britain (CDBB) are collaborating with the Transforming Construction Challenge partners. Along with over 300 organisations, industry bodies, policy-makers, practitioners, and academics, Construction Innovation Hub aims to develop solutions that will keep driving the transformation of the construction sector ever forward.
For further information about the Construction Innovation Hub, visit the CIH website.