Innovations and Milestones

Take a look at just some of our innovations and achievements over the past decade....

2008

• The Yorkon high performance floor wins the Building Products Innovative Product of the Year Award 
• With a point loading of 7kN and a uniformly distributed load of 9kN/m², Yorkon launches the highest performing floor for a modular building
• Yorkon, as part of the Portakabin Group, is one of the first off-site specialists to achieve ISO 14001 accreditation - the internationally recognised standard for reducing impact on the environment. 
• Yorkon wins the award for Best Healthcare Project for the Emergency Assessment Unit at North Tees Hospital
• Yorkon is highly commended at the Building Better Healthcare Awards in the Best Healthcare Construction Product category
• Yorkon launches a series of design options for ‘greener' modular buildings to encourage the use of renewable sources of energy, reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions, and promote recyclability
• Yorkon completes construction of the largest acute admissions unit (AAU) in the UK and the UK's largest modular building project in the healthcare sector.
• Yorkon, as part of Portakabin, announces that it now recycles 78 per cent of all waste.

2007

• Yorkon announces that as part of the Portakabin Group, it has achieved a 50 per cent reduction in the volume of waste sent to landfill over the last three years.
• Yorkon introduces a series of design options for ‘greener' modular buildings, as part of its ongoing commitment to sustainability. The options were selected to offer significant environmental benefits, including the use of renewable sources of energy, reduced energy consumption and carbon emissions, and recyclability.
• Yorkon launches a pioneering new exemplar design to demonstrate the architectural flexibility of its steel-framed modular building system. The design concepts, which have a wide range of practical applications, were developed in partnership with leading architects tp bennett.
• Yorkon launches a new design tool to help architects work with off-site construction.
• Full-scale tests for air permeability show that Yorkon buildings consistently perform up to 70 per cent better than traditional site-based construction - further evidence that building off site is a more sustainable method of construction.

2006

• Yorkon is the first off-site construction specialist to introduce a new and advanced software system to carry out a detailed environmental assessment of new building designs. 
• Analysis of Yorkon's health and safety record over the past two years has shown 46 per cent fewer incidents compared to construction industry statistics for reportable injuries provided by the Health and Safety Executive.
• Research shows that Yorkon has delivered 96 per cent of building projects on time and 94 per cent on budget over the past five years.
• Yorkon introduces shaped modules to create curved buildings, atria and shaped entrances, and launches a new range of design options including a wider range of cladding, glazing and roofing options.
• Yorkon wins the award for Innovator of the Year at the Specialist Contractor Awards - its fourth consecutive success at these awards.

2005

• The Moho project built by Yorkon for Urban Splash wins 5 awards for design, architecture and innovation.
• Yorkon wins the award for Best Off-site Specialist at the Specialist Contractor Awards for the third consecutive year. Keith Blanshard, Director of Yorkon, wins Personality of the Year.
• Yorkon achieves another modular industry first with the launch of a software tool to assess the whole life costs of the Yorkon system compared to other modular or traditionally constructed buildings. 
• Yorkon completes the first Independent Sector Treatment Centre to be built off-site. The project at Shepton Mallet is also believed to be the most complex modular project ever undertaken in the UK.

2004

• Yorkon introduces a pioneering warranty package. A modular industry first, the 20-year structural warranty and 5-year product warranty are part of a new and unique Customer Charter introduced to set out Yorkon's commitment to delivering every project to the highest quality standards.
• Yorkon, in partnership with award-winning architects Cartwright Pickard, launches a pioneering design for new school buildings in response to the Government's Building Schools for the Future initiative.
• Yorkon wins the award for the Best Off-site Specialist at the DTI sponsored Specialist Contractor Awards, for the second consecutive year.
• Yorkon launches a new finance package for the funding of school facilities built using off-site construction. This innovative solution, which uses operating lease finance, is a much faster and simpler alternative to the Private Finance Initiative.
• Yorkon hands over a new £5m primary school in East Kilbride, designed and built for South Lanarkshire Council. The project is the UK's first complete school to be built off-site.

2003

• Yorkon wins the award for the Best Modular Specialist at the DTI sponsored Specialist Contractor Awards, in recognition of its pioneering work in off-site construction. 
• Yorkon is awarded the £9m contract to design and build a new three-storey healthcare facility for Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. The project is the UK's largest single hospital scheme to be built using modular construction.

2002

• Yorkon is the first modular building manufacturer to achieve approval from the Loss Prevention Certification Board for fire testing in line with the requirements of the Association of British Insurers.

2001

• Yorkon completes construction of the Ladies Walk Centre in Dudley - the UK's first purpose-designed facility for the Government's policy of service integration and the first private finance project to be built using off-site construction. The scheme went on to win the award for Most Innovative PFI Project under £10m in the Public Private Finance Awards 2001.

2000

• Yorkon is presented with the Innovation Award by the Steel Construction Institute and the British Constructional Steelwork Association. The Structural Steel Design Awards recognise the highest standards of structural and architectural design in the use of steel, and its potential in terms of efficiency, cost effectiveness, aesthetics and innovation.

1997

• Yorkon successfully completes a trial project for McDonald's to build a restaurant on a greenfield site in Peterborough in just 48 hours.