University of Oxford

With space at a premium, the University needed state-of-the-art facilities for world-leading departments, and quickly. Anna Sutherland, who led the Arup M&E team assisting Portakabin, explains, "To ensure a successful project, it was essential to quickly understand the complex servicing requirements associated with the laboratory buildings. The fast turnaround for the facilities demanded that the briefing and approvals processes were streamlined. Therefore, throughout the project, clarity and transparency were of utmost importance. Arup’s wealth of experience in laboratory and higher education facilities expedited this, enabling the Portakabin team to work collaboratively with the University ensuring their aspirations and high-quality expectations were realised."

Adrian Yap, Principal, fjmt studio comments, “As part of the decant for the Tinbergen Building, fjmt studio were commissioned to design, in collaboration with Portakabin, three modular laboratory buildings. Although only intended to provide temporary accommodation for a period of up to five years, the modular laboratories still needed to provide state-of-the-art facilities for the world leading departments. These facilities ranged from Cat 2 wet laboratories and constant temperature rooms to over 50 specialist testing booths, some electromagnetically shielded to enable EEG studies.”

The most challenging M&E aspect was the temperature controlled rooms, required to provide a range of conditions between four and 37°C. Working closely with both the University and the supply chain, our team were able to agree the brief for these spaces. Additionally, we installed specialist ventilation and gas detection systems, specifically to enable the use of liquid nitrogen within the respective laboratories. The plethora of high-quality activity at the University, including niche projects such as researching delicate spider webs, requires these high-quality facilities and systems to complement the work. Lee continues: “We have the capability to deliver accommodation ranging from a single classroom through to award-winning architectural schemes as well as hybrid buildings using advanced off-site technology for primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities.”

Lee Connolly says, “As the pioneers of off-site construction, Portakabin has the design, engineering and project management expertise to construct buildings of any size. The buildings we are currently engineering are challenging traditional build's flexibility and potential. We offer the flexibility to adapt high-specification, internal space to replicate traditionally built rooms without any compromise on quality.”