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S P R I N G / S U M M E R 2 0 1 7

Modular construction is not a new idea within

commercial property. In the UK, and particularly in

mainland Europe, high-rise modular construction

has been used in the residential and student

accommodation sectors since the late nineties. In

the UK, offices, schools, cafes and sports clubs

have been using modular construction in one

and two storeys for some years. Also, Travelodge

have been using the technique for some time.

Its use within high rise high quality hotel buildings,

however, is a more recent development. The

hotels sector is a fairly new adopter and the

method has been pioneered by budget providers

looking for a quick way to construct a hotel from

scratch.

Produced off-site in factories, modular

construction involves pre-engineered units being

delivered to a construction site kitted out with a

varying level of completeness ranging from empty

shells to fully furnished en-suite bedrooms. The

benefits of modular construction include reduced

build time, less disruption to the surrounding

neighbourhood and fewer construction vehicles

on site. Hotel and motel buildings built using

modular construction are reportedly 20% less

expensive and 50% faster to build than traditional

construction techniques which can lead to

quicker customer/client occupancy. There are

also claims that modular buildings are up to 60%

more energy efficient than traditional, reduce

waste on site, reduce traffic to site by 85% and

have a wide range of exterior and interior finishes.

The construction of affordable boutique hotels

is best suited to this method as their models

are based around smaller rooms with quirky and

innovative design solutions.

In the UK, a 220 bedroom Holiday Inn in

Manchester is currently being constructed from

shipping containers and will be the first of its kind

in the North West. Each module will contain two

fully furnished en-suite bedrooms that will be

individually stacked on top of a ground floor slab.

The construction of the hotel will be noticeably

quicker, with the majority of construction expected

to be completed within a month. Once all the

containers are in place, cladding and branding

can be easily applied to the outside to complete

the building. In Edinburgh, meanwhile, a 160

bedroom Courtyard Hotel by Marriott is being

developed by Polcom using modular construction

and finished with brick and aluminum panels.

Across the Atlantic in New York, citizenM is

undertaking the biggest modular project in

the city using 210 separate parts to create a

20-storey, 300-bedroom hotel. The surrounding

neighbourhood should feel the benefits with the

number of truck deliveries to the site cut by around

1,200 compared to a conventional construction

site. The time spent by cranes on the site will also

be reduced to around five months, as opposed

to a year. Although this is their first project of this

kind in New York, citizenM has used modular

construction in hotel development across Europe

in recent years.

As visitors look for hotels that are used as

functional ‘bases’ rather than opulent places to

stay, modular construction provides the perfect

solution – rooms that are small, quiet and full of

innovative design. For developers, construction is

quicker and it allows expansion into city centre

areas that may have been previously ruled out.

H O T E L

C O N S T R U C T I O N

M O D U L A R C O N S T R U C T I O N S L O T S I N T O P L A C E

F O R H O T E L S E C T O R

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