Skanska has begun installing 500 bathroom pods using a special lifting cradle it has developed as part of its fast-track project to design and build a Radisson SAS Hotel at Stansted Airport. It’s just one innovative method to enable Skanska to construct the large hotel within two years.
Other timesaving techniques include pre-fabricated service risers, complete with hot and cold water pipes, M&E cables and ventilation ducts, modular units in the plant room and a Swedish product called ‘Sprutspackel’. This is a ready-mixed finishing plaster that’s sprayed onto the concrete walls and smoothed over ready for decorating, a process that takes less than half the time of traditional methods using a trowel.
The advantage of bathroom pods, which arrive fitted with everything from sanitryware and wall tiling to towel rails and taps, is that they are fully operational once they are connected to the building’s services.
Along with service risers, they also have the advantage of reducing site waste. Skanska project manager Bill Brock explains, “As they arrive ready for use, we don’t have to worry about waste caused by assembling the pod’s individual components on-site. They provide good value for money and also ensure we get a consistently high quality product each time.”
It will take 23 weeks to install the pods, which are manufactured by EJ Badekabiner in Denmark and arrive by ship at Harwich.
When completed late next year, the 500-bedroom hotel will be the first to provide direct pedestrian access to the airport terminal by way of a covered walkway. Its distinctive design will feature a large five-storey glazed atrium, conference facilities, banqueting hall, health club and restaurants.