Expanding teaching accommodation using recycled and refurbished modular buildings

The Requirement

Sparsholt College Hampshire, near Winchester, a centre of excellence in land-based studies, chose the highly sustainable recycled modular building approach from Foremans to expand its teaching accommodation.

Sparsholt College is a Centre of Vocational Excellence, and is one of the largest and best regarded colleges of further education that specialises in land-based studies. It has more than 1,400 full-time and 6,000 part-time students.


The Solution

Five modular buildings were required by the College following an increase in students and as part of its continued expansion.

The single-storey teaching blocks were refurbished ready for installation on three sites around the campus during the holidays to minimise any disruption to students. The entire project was completed by Foremans just four months from receipt of order.


Blending into a Rural Environment

Each building was partially clad in timber from sustainable sources to help them blend into the surrounding rural environment, and were fully refurbished and fitted out off site at Foremans' production centre.

Each recycled modular building was fully refurbished with new windows, wall linings, partitions, M&E services, doors and flooring, creating high quality teaching accommodation for the College's permanent use.


Improving a Building's Carbon Footprint

The recycling and refurbishment of relocatable buildings is one of the most sustainable methods of construction - helping to reduce carbon emissions, waste sent to landfill, and improving a building's carbon footprint. The sustainability benefits include:

• The Foremans approach generates less than 10 per cent of the carbon emissions compared to a newly manufactured building of equivalent size (source: CO2 Emissions from Use, Scrapping and Manufacture of Modular Buildings, MPBA).
• Because much of the refurbishment work takes place off site, the approach generates fewer vehicle movements to site than traditional new build.
• The bulk of the embodied energy in a modular building is in the steel components and the insulation materials used in the manufacture of the building envelope. By refurbishing the building modules and preserving these elements which have significant embodied energy, Foremans is extending the life of the building.

Comments from the Client Team

Tim Jackson, Principal, Sparsholt College:

"Foremans offered the most cost-effective solution to providing very high quality additional classrooms to accommodate the significant volume increases in students."

"The classrooms look absolutely excellent and have been clad with cedar panelling and installed at ground level, rather than being elevated, which makes them look like a very settled part of the campus. We were very happy with the service and the finish, and would be happy to recommend the approach to other education providers."

Nigel Stephens, Property Manager, Sparsholt College:

"The use of recycled building modules is highly sustainable, and minimised any impact on the environment - an important requirement for the College. The modular approach also helped us to address the limitations of our site and its restricted access, as well as ensuring the classrooms would be in place for the start of the new term."

"This is the first time we have used recycled and refurbished modular buildings and we are very pleased. You really can't tell the difference between these classrooms and newly manufactured modular buildings. This was a very successful project and Foremans' service was very good."