The UK’s leading modular building provider, Portakabin, retains Superbrand status
Portakabin, the UK's leading modular building provider, has been named as one of the UK's leading business brands for the second consecutive year in the Business Superbrands 2009 list. Portakabin has moved 25 places higher than its 2008 position and is now ranked at 233rdin the top 500.
The announcement follows a robust selection process undertaken by The Centre for Brand Analysis who canvas the opinions of a voluntary Expert Council and over 1500 individual business professionals.
Stephen Cheliotis, Chairman of the expert council & CEO, The Centre for Brand Analysis, said: "Congratulations to Portakabin. A Business Superbrand that has established the finest reputation in its field. It offers customers significant emotional and tangible advantage over its competitors which customers want and recognise; it must also represent quality, reliability and distinction."
David Shaw, Marketing Director for Portakabin, added: "In troubling economic times, the strength of a company brand can mean the difference between success and failure.
Providing exceptional customer service and premium quality buildings ‘on time and on budget’ has enabled Portakabin to build a brand synonymous with excellence.
"Retaining this accolade for a second year will only further enhance our outstanding brand name and market leading reputation in the construction industry."
From January 2004 to June 2008, Portakabin delivered 99.6 per cent of buildings on time and on budget compared with a construction sector average of only 63 per cent on time and 49 per cent on budget.
Its enviable reputation has been driven by the Portakabin Customer Charter, the first of its kind to be launched in the modular building market.
To find out how Portakabin can benefit your business call 0845 355 5359 log on at http://www.portanews.co.uk/ or email news@portakabin.co.uk
About Portakabin
Portakabin provides high quality permanent and temporary accommodation tailored for clients needs with portable and modular building techniques.
For media enquiries, please contact
Jenny Simpson
Online News & PR Manager
WebCertain Global Ltd
44 1904 8780030
Continual development of customer service sees Portakabin releasing impressive figures
From January 2004 to June 2008, 99.6% percent of modular buildings were delivered on time and on budget comparing favourably with a construction industry average of only 63% on time and 49% on budget.
Since the launch of its pioneering Portakabin Customer Charter¹ four years ago, the York-based modular building provider has completed over 8,000 building projects. During this time, less than 0.5% of customers have claimed against the delivery guarantees set out in the Charter, demonstrating the company's commitment and success in delivering modular buildings on time and on budget.
In addition, since the launch of its innovative Warranty package² in January 2004, Portakabin has sold nearly 2,000 portable buildings and only 0.17% of customers have made a claim against the warranties.
In direct contrast to this, the findings of a recent survey³ have highlighted that 40% of construction industry clients believe that the successful delivery of projects on time and on budget is being compromised by a lack of qualified contractors.
These figures also highlight a key difference between the traditional and modular building sectors, where time and cost overruns have severely affected the reputation of the traditional building sector in recent years, the Wembley Stadium construction being a prime example.
The Portakabin Customer Charter - which was the first of its kind to be launched in the modular building sector - states that if a building project is not delivered on time or on budget, customers who hire modular buildings will be entitled to a week's free hire for every day the building is late and sales customers will get an additional one year product warranty free of charge.
Portakabin Marketing Director, David Shaw, says, ‘Failing to provide high levels of service on time and on budget is not only an irritation or an inconvenience to the customer, it also has more widespread consequences. Poor customer service can have severe financial implications through overspends, lost revenue or delayed return on investment. There are also potential disruptions to day-to-day business to consider and the impact that having to re-plan and re-schedule accommodation can have on staff productivity and motivation.
‘Our strong commitment to customer service was demonstrated four years ago when we launched our pioneering Customer Charter and innovative Warranty package. This clearly lays out our commitment to delivering the highest standards of service throughout every project we undertake for our customers.'
David continues: ‘In today's increasingly competitive business environment, no organisation can afford to ignore the importance of high-quality customer service. When you consider that 42% of people, on average, are less likely to be loyal to the same brand than they were five years ago, having exemplary customer service could be the key to getting people to stay with you.
‘Providing high-quality customer service has become routine at Portakabin and this is reflected in the excellent figures we have released today.'
The Portakabin commitment to service excellence has earned widespread recognition among Customer Service experts and groups, including being shortlisted twice in the Management Today & Unisys Service Excellence Awards.
Customer service expert, Mark Bradley, author of ‘Inconvenience Stores - One Year in UK Customer Service', and a former Unisys Service Excellence Awards judge, says: ‘The Portakabin Customer Charter certainly stands out from the crowd. It not only sets out very high performance standards, but it is also one of very few that we have seen that has real ‘teeth'; if they are late with delivery, customers will be properly compensated.'
To find out how the Portakabin Customer Charter and Warranty package can benefit your business call 0845 3555 5359 (Sales), or 0845 359 0059 (Hire). Alternatively visit www.portakabin.co.uk/salescharter
ENDS
¹ Terms and conditions apply. A copy is available on request.
² All Portakabin buildings that are purchased come with a 5-year product warranty, which covers the external fabric of the building and a 20-year structural warranty, which covers the load bearing elements of the building.
³Survey conducted by KPMG ‘Construction Procurement for the 21st Century: Global Construction Survey 2007'
4 Source: The Guardian, ‘Customers fed up of poor service.' 29th June 2006.
Notes to Editors
Porta and Portakabin are registered trade marks.
About Portakabin
<emPortakabin provides high quality permanent and temporary accommodation tailored for clients needs with portable and modular building techniques.
For further media information please contact Robert Stebbings or Louise Wylie on 0113 242 1155 or email robert@ptarmiganpr.co.uk / louise@ptarmiganpr.co.uk
Portakabin becomes an accredited public sector building supplier
Public sector organisations can often find themselves bogged down with time consuming and costly competitive tender processes when it comes to the procurement of accommodation solutions.
However, leading portable building supplier, Portakabin, has been selected by Buying Solutions as an accredited building supplier to the public sector. This allows organisations who use Portakabin to benefit from rapid procurement as well as modular buildings of the highest quality.
As part of the four-year contract, public sector organisations looking for accommodation solutions will be able to avoid entering into costly, compulsory competitive tender process and simply turn to Portakabin to fulfil all their requirements, for portable buildings of all sizes. This system can save, on average, 77 days and up to £50,000 on small tenders and up to £140,000 on tenders that are more complex.
The accreditation by Buying Solutions means that Portakabin products, services and full turn-key packages have been rigorously assessed and independently adjudged to provide excellent quality and value for money.
Buying Solutions is a leading buying agency for the UK public sector. It aims to deliver multiple savings in time and cost to its public sector customers through the sourcing of more than 500,000 products and services from a wide range of carefully selected suppliers.
Services are available for the Education sector, the Ministry of Defence, HM Prison Service, the Health sector, the Police and Emergency Services as well as any organisation that is more than 50 per cent publicly funded. In addition, modular building specifiers working for the public sector - such as architects, engineers and facilities management companies - can also access its services.
But it is not just speed of service and value for money that is achieved by sourcing accommodation solutions from Portakabin. Each new Portakabin modular building is delivered with a pioneering 20-year structural warranty and 5-year product warranty package.
Furthermore, every Portakabin modular building procured is delivered with the company's unique Customer Charter. The Charter states that if the company fails to complete projects on time and on budget, customers are entitled to a week's free hire for every day Portakabin is late, or an additional 12 months product warranty on buildings that are purchased.1
To find out how Portakabin can benefit your business call 0845 3590059, visit www.portanews.co.uk or email news@portakabin.co.uk
- Terms and conditions apply. A copy is available on request.
Portakabin provides high quality permanent and temporary accommodation tailored for clients needs with portable and modular building techniques.
The broad Portakabin product range includes modular buildings such as:
Ultima and Ultima Vision, which can accommodate between one and 1,000 people within individual offices or large open-plan spaces.
Portakabin Solus, which offers up to 30m2 of office space with improved aesthetics including larger windows and doors.
Titan, the largest single modular building in Europe that can be sited with minimal groundwork required.
The innovative Titan Solar, the first relocatable building to use solar energy.
Portakabin also provides a range of classroom and nursery products, such as the Lilliput Children's Centres, which are delivered complete with nappy-changing rooms, junior toilet facilities, vibrant colours and wipe-clean surfaces.
For media enquiries, please contact
Jenny Simpson
Online News & PR Manager
WebCertain Global Ltd
44 1904 8780030
Portakabin Proves Modular Makes Sense for Derby Council
Portakabin, the UK’s leading modular building supplier, has provided Derby City Council with three new Children’s Centres, as part of phase two of the Government’s Sure Start Children’s Centre initiative.
Having used traditional buildings to complete phase one of the project, the Council opted for the reassurance of a timely delivery of a modular building solution for phase two, citing minimal on-site disruption as another key reason for the switch to modular.
Children Centres provide multi-agency services for families, incorporating everything from childcare and health services to employment support and training. The Council inspected a number of existing Portakabin Lilliput Children’s Centres and was extremely impressed by the high-quality modular buildings which are designed around the needs of children.
Councillor Sara Bolton, Cabinet member for Children and Young People at the Council says: “In Phase one we were under a great deal of pressure to get some major building work finished in a very short timescale, trying to manage all the variables of traditional building projects around the needs of operational school sites.
Portakabin provides Rok development solid solution with exceptional finish
Looking for a high specification marketing suite for visiting customers at its new Wilmslow Office Park lying within two miles of Manchester Airport, Paul Smith, Rok’s Project Manager, visited the modular building supplier Portakabin headquarters in York and was instantly impressed by the contemporary, visual impact of the glazed Titan building.
Paul Smith commented on the glazed Titan relocatable building solution, ‘The marketing suite is the first opportunity to impress visitors to the site, making it extremely important that it makes a positive impact. The building Portakabin supplied reflects the quality and style of our own development in progress.
‘The Portakabin team surpassed their own professional reputation by providing exceptional customer service, a fantastic building and all within our designated timescale.’
Delivered just 10 weeks after the initial order, the Portakabin team worked closely with the Rok Development architect to provide a flexible relocatable building solution, which would meet their exact requirements, including high specification internal fittings.
The stylish glazed Titan building features a fully glazed wall, which provides a prestigious, light and spacious open plan environment, which can be easily relocated time and time again. It can be reconfigured whenever necessary to meet the requirements of individual developments, making it a completely flexible building solution.
The Rok Development glazed Titan building was tailored by Portakabin to include a solid oak floor throughout, and features a contemporary kitchen which includes a stainless steel sink with a modern glass splash back, solid granite worktops, fitted freezer and dishwasher.
Portakabin provides rolling relocation classroom building solution for Gleeson building
Modular building supplier Portakabin has delivered high quality relocatable classroom accommodation for major upgrade and rebuilding programme in Northumberland’s schools for GB Building Solutions, the Strategic Construction Framework Partners for the region’s County Council.
Following a four-way tender process, Portakabin was chosen to provide the relocatable classroom accommodation, with GB Building Solutions citing the superior quality and relocatability of the Portakabin buildings as a deciding factor.
Portakabin is a leading modular building supplier in the UK, providing permanent and temporary accommodation for classrooms as well as other modular building solutions.
John Matthews, Business Development Manager at GB Building Solutions commented on the classroom accommodation: “The 12 classrooms will move around the region whilst work takes place on different school sites. There are usually two or three buildings at separate schools at any one time, so relocatability combined with a high-quality learning environment is absolutely vital for us.
“The quality of the classrooms surpassed all expectations and prompted one head teacher to admit that the buildings were far better than their existing old school buildings and not at all what they were expecting from “temporary” accommodation.”
The 64m² Portakabin Classrooms buildings exceed DfES size guidelines, and due to the nature of modular construction, they can be up and running within hours of arriving on-site, therefore minimising disruption to the school
Each classroom has four toilet facilities, including a disabled cubicle in keeping with the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). The lobby areas also provide a light and spacious area for children to arrive and hang their belongings.
How to get 10,000m2 and beyond built in just weeks
Portakabin, the UK’s leading modular building supplier, is taking the hassle out of time consuming large-scale building projects, with the provision of buildings up to 10,000m2 and beyond, in a matter of weeks.
Breckland Council, for example, procured 2,700m2 of two-storey office space which was delivered in less than 16 weeks and when Southampton University needed to hire two large-scale interim buildings, Portakabin supplied over 2,000m2 of office space across two-storeys, in just four weeks.
The 1,800m2 Portakabin buildings, used by the UK Ministry of Defence for the provision of worldwide satellite communications services to the UK Armed Forces, were also completed within 30 weeks and included a stylish barrel roof, large picture windows for increased natural light and a barrelled canopy.
Simon Robinson, Major Projects Manager at Portakabin says: “Portakabin delivered the entire building fully-fitted out and ready to move straight into. Its high-tech appearance was achieved using a range of external design finishes. Inside, the working area is light, airy and spacious with ergonomically designed furniture. These interior features are proven to increase the productivity and motivation levels of occupants.”
The design had to cater for high security access systems, environmental requirements and a range of other specialist IT measures. The MoD project is envisaged to run for at least 15 years. At the end of the contract, the building can be relocated and used again elsewhere.
Paul Burridge, Design and Delivery Manager, responsible for the building project at Serco said: “The quality of the building really set Portakabin apart from the rest of the organisations we met with… It is 200% better than the buildings the majority of staff were in previously.”
Time and budget overruns are a major concern for any building project – incurring financial costs, disrupting planning and operations, as well as damaging reputations. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has reported that only 63% of traditional building projects are completed on time and only 49% to the agreed contract sum.