CASE STUDY 10 LEGAL & GENERAL MODULAR CONSTRUCTION FACTORY

Legal & General launched a business in 2016 to deliver precision-engineered homes more cheaply and quickly through the largest modular housing construction factory in the world, already open in Sherburn, Yorkshire. It represents one of the biggest potential disruptions in the UK residential sector with a manufacture led approach being used at an unprecedented scale.

The manufacturing process uses volumetrically pre-assembled and pre-fitted out cross-laminated timber (CLT) modules and can be used to construct most building types of various heights either stand alone or in conjunction with other structural systems.

Legal & General facility at Sherburn-in-Elmet, North Yorkshire

CLT is created from carefully selected solid, sustainably-sourced, softwood which will be glued and pressed into sheets. This creates an incredibly strong and solid cross-laminated timber sheet, which can be made up to 20 metres long and 6 metres wide. The factory also has its own lamination plant and is highly automated and digitally enabled using large CNC cutting machines creating walls and floor panels and cutting doors and windows to size as well as internal finishes. The factory labour force will be multi-skilled using 'plug and play' assembly rather than traditional tradesmen. All outputs leaving the factory will be warranted and accredited in the normal way.

Time spent manufacturing the volumetric modules will be dramatically reduced compared to the use of site based traditional techniques. Production and delivery to site will embrace 'lean' approaches, with residual site works coordinated to minimize overall project construction programmes and optimise integration. Using CLT materials combined with a highly automated manufacturing approach will increase the overall predictability of time, cost and quality.

Using CLT is no longer seen as unconventional and the technology has been proven across Europe. CLT has already been used in the UK in buildings up to 11 storeys high. In Austria, Germany, Scandinavia, as well as in Canada and Japan, use of CLT is increasingly considered mainstream.