It's been just over two years since one of the UK and Ireland's best known offsite businesses was acquired by certain funds managed by Blantyre Capital Ltd. Since then, the trajectory has been strong across several fronts for McAvoy – not least in terms of financial performance.
Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, McAvoy, has built a substantial reputation for its high quality and innovative work, primarily across the education, health and commercial sectors. McAvoy is now a major offsite manufacturer and provider of market-leading permanent and semipermanent modular accommodation solutions across the UK and Ireland.
The company operates a highquality precision engineering and manufacturing facility in Lisburn, Northern Ireland that harnesses the very latest digital technologies. In addition, it has other office locations in London, Dublin, and Oxford (which also has a rental division depot).
According to McAvoy CEO, Ron Clarke, 2022 has been a significant year in the strategic development of the business which has been marked with investment innovation and peer recognition. "Thanks to ongoing support from our investor, Blantyre Capital, we recently announced a significant multi-million expansion programme that included the launch of our new SmartSpace semipermanent modular fleet," says Ron.
The decision had been made in response to strong market demand, particularly within the health, education, and commercial sectors in the UK, after McAvoy already secured orders for the new modular SmartSpace range with upcoming projects across the UK and Ireland.
"The investment will be made over a period of two years and will include ongoing research and development, manufacturing, and the implementation of additional infrastructure in terms of people, factory equipment and technology," adds Ron. "We envisage the creation of this additional capacity will help drive the planned growth of our business in the UK over the next 2-3 years where we see significant opportunities to increase market share.
Our market research, underpinned by enquiry levels, has indicated for some time the demand for high quality semipermanent accommodation across health, education and commercial but also within the pharma, manufacturing, and technology sectors, so this decision is all about helping our customers meet those needs.
"Designed and built to enhanced energy and fire protection standards, this new product provides our customers sustainable and adaptable space solutions. SmartSpace will be one of the newest modular fleets in the UK and Ireland, so this investment will be a significant component of our overall sustainable growth plans."
Glen Busby, Director of Modular Rental and Sales at McAvoy, says the first of the new modular units had already been deployed as part of a major health project in England, with the investment having the potential to be a real gamechanger for McAvoy within the modular rental and sales sector. "Our ambition is to significantly increase our market share and to be known as a UK and Irish market leader in the supply of high-quality permanent and semi-permanent accommodation for rental or sale. We believe our SmartSpace proposition to be amongst the very best available and with almost 50 years' experience we have a track record and understanding of the modular offsite industry that is second to none."
Innovation & Investment
Since its establishment McAvoy has been focused on innovation and this 50th anniversary year, was marked by participation in two ground-breaking industry collaborations.
Seismic: Delivered by a consortium of seven companies including McAvoy, Seismic is a new platform-based approach to construction using standard, repeatable components that can be configured according to client requirements. It offers a way of boosting sector productivity, improving quality and safety, minimising waste and reducing carbon impact. Designed with the latest in digital and manufacturing technologies, the results demonstrate that projects can be delivered up to 33% faster, 32% lower in carbon and 47% better value, when compared with typical modular construction.
Sandpit: McAvoy is one of a number of contractors working with Balfour Beatty on an Education Sandpit project, that has been established by the Construction Innovation Hub. Through the creation of three structural frame systems (steel, recast concrete and engineered timber) the sandpit will enable the demonstration of interoperability between the systems and different suppliers. The Education Sandpit has been developed with input from Department for Education and, in addition to a Health Sandpit, will be located at the Manufacturing & Technology Centre (MTC in Coventry. The objective is that this will provide a safe place to test, learn and develop, thereby benefitting the schools and hospitals of the future.
Amongst some of the key project successes in the past year were a 2,300sq m school for children with Special Autism Needs at Cavendish – the world's first International Baccalaureate special free school, a 6,850sq m, 900-place Low Carbon Pathfinder School for the Department for Education at Redhill and the securing of a ten-year rental contract for two 48 bed wards for University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust.
Alongside additional ongoing investment across the business over the next three years, particularly in relation to digital technology, recruitment and people development, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) will be a major element in McAvoy's strategic development. "Like any ambitious business we know our growth strategy must be underpinned by a robust ESG strategy," adds Ron. "We have a dedicated team focused on ensuring our ESG strategy will deliver clear outcomes that include a clear transition plan for the company to meet the government's target of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050, excellence in areas of diversity equality and inclusion and a comprehensive strategy to ensure mission critical operations can continue during any disruption."
Using the very latest digital construction technology and offsite methods, McAvoy has been successful in reducing new water demand by more than 30%, reducing operational energy consumption by more than 73% and reducing carbon emissions by almost 60% of the predicted regulated energy use on its largest project to date. With further positive financial results due to be published soon, and an impressive raft of new projects in the offing, McAvoy is looking forward to 2023 with huge optimism.
For more information visit: www.mcavoygroup.com
Read the full article, go to Offsite Magazine
