Excel Modular Buildings Limited

Modular buildings are becoming an increasingly popular option within educational settings. With sustainability being a huge priority for 21st century schools, building schools for the future is necessary.

Many schools have inherited older, more traditional buildings such as Victorian structures. These draughty properties come with a large carbon footprint and aren’t as reliable as other alternatives.

Modular classrooms are fast gaining in popularity – and it’s not hard to see why. They are convenient, quick to construct and they tick all the boxes in terms of energy efficiency and sustainability, allowing schools to expand their premises without starting things from scratch.

The Ever-Growing Need

Because of the current boom in population, schools are in fact under constant pressure to accommodate a large intake of students, of all ages. There has been a recent surge in school aged children – when combined with a responsibility to build sustainably, this has led to a huge rise in modular classrooms.

The prefabricated buildings are most often built off site and delivered fully formed to the school site, meaning no disturbance for day to day school running. Nevertheless, they can be made with bespoke specifications in mind.
Functionality Needs

Within school environments, a one size fits all simple function is not always ideal. Multiple functionality is an added benefit. Modular classrooms can be designed in a variety of shapes, styles, and sizes – all to suit every purpose. They can be altered to include extra features such as multiple rooms, plumbed in toilets, sinks, wheelchair ramps, extra windows and doors and much more. Whatever functionality is needed, modular classrooms can be modified to incorporate them.

Not only do they have flexible functionality, but they can also double up on functionality – a regular classroom could double as a music studio or even a meeting room.

Mobile classrooms are also moveable, so if the infrastructure of the school were to change, the modular classroom can simply be moved to a more suitable location.
Eco-Sustainability

There is a constant concern for just how ‘green’ our current construction methods are. Especially when it comes to structures within education systems, NHS, governmental bodies and so on.

Modular classrooms live up to their eco-credentials through many key design and construction aspects. They are energy efficient due to their well-insulated structures and are cheap to heat. They also employ energy efficient lighting, translating into lower energy bills for the school.

The buildings are made from sustainable materials with much of the materials sourced from FSC certified forests and sustainability sourced.

They are also long lasting and are anything but a temporary solution. They are specifically designed to last for at least 50 years – sometimes even more. They have minimal upkeep requirements and are hassle-free to construct. Unlike the usual bricks and mortar project, a modular classroom can be installed in a matter of weeks.

students study in a modular classroom with male teacher

The Future for Modular Classrooms

With this great method developing at such a fast rate, the sky is the limit for modular construction. More bodies are embracing the benefits of the modular buildings, for functional classrooms and more. It’s not hard to envision how they could be used throughout the nation and even globally, for various reasons – from solving the housing crisis to creating affordable and functional classrooms. After all, the education of our children if the future.
Mobile Classrooms from Excel Modular

Here at Excel Modular, we are suppliers in mobile classrooms and temporary or permanent classroom solutions. We have many years of experience in supplying modular classrooms to the education sector and would be happy to provide further information if needed. Get in touch with our expert team today and we can undertake a FREE no obligation site survey to kick start your project and turn ideas into reality.

School can be a stressful time for a lot of students, and classrooms can quickly become boring spaces for them. This is why many teachers choose to decorate their classrooms. Creating a learning space that is as friendly and inviting as possible is sure to help your students to engage more with your lessons, and it’s easy to transform your mobile classrooms into the spaces described below. Get ready to move some chairs around and make some space!

Mindfulness

Mindfulness has been practised in various religions and by various people, and is a trend that is still picking up speed in the West. We all remember what a stressful time being a kid in high school felt like, so introducing spaces to practise mindfulness could be a fantastic way to help your students focus. If your students are calm and collected, it follows that their studies are going to benefit from this changed perspective, rather than always approaching their work in a peer-pressure induced panic. Why not transform one of your classrooms into a mindfulness room? This would be a space where students could go to wind down with colouring, suduko, or leisurely reading.

Calm vs Panic signs with blurred beach background
Yoga

Yoga is one way of practising mindfulness that could benefit your school. It can be integrated into P.E. lessons or practised as a lunchtime club. Yoga increases core strength and flexibility, as well as benefitting your students’ mental well-being, and increasing body awareness. Yoga is about practising breathing techniques whilst exercising, and this encourages the person engaging in this activity to clear their mind and relax. Following a lunchtime yoga practice, the students involved will hopefully have been able to push aside any issues with peers or lessons experienced in the morning, and will be able to approach their afternoon lessons with a fresh and tidy mind.

Sporty woman practicing yoga at sunset
Exhibition Room

Another way to improve your students’ engagement is to encourage them to feel pride in their work. This can be done by showing their work to the rest of the school by keeping this room open during lunchtime, displaying it on open days, or holding exhibition evenings for the local community and parents. Class projects could fill this exhibition room to demonstrate the hard work which different classes are putting into their studies, such as a history of British monarchs or some paper maché volcanoes from science or geography. An exhibition space would also benefit Art GCSE students who may be creating 3D sculptures or art pieces which would be best appreciated when displayed as a set.

Having a space to create in will help students to think about their work as occupying a physical space, rather than locked away in textbook pages. Classroom displays are often limited to posters, but with a space dedicated to the exhibition, your students can go mad on collaboratively creating huge sculptures which would have no room in any normal classroom.
Well-being centre or Games room?

Depending on what kind of school you run, your school’s library will probably occupy one of two categories: it will either be a quiet place where good students go to polish off homework for next lesson and maybe also check out a book, or it will be a place of havoc which tired students retreat to for gossip and boardgames when it’s raining outside. Both of these environments are beneficial for any school looking to improve itself so ask yourself which category your library falls into and consider building a second space which means you can support both environments, if you don’t already.
Games Room

A games room can be cheaply furnished with second-hand versions of Scrabble, Othello, and chess. Cheap crosswords, colouring pages and suduko can also be printed off the internet for your students to fill in. A games room will encourage your students to stay mentally stimulated during their breaks and will stop them from reappropriating the library to enact the same activities. It’s important to keep competitive games like Scrabble, Othello and chess outside of any space you want to remain quiet, as competitive games are sure to stimulate conversation between players, which could be disruptive to students trying to finish their homework. For this reason, you should have a dedicated games room to keep everyone happy.

Mobile classrooms can be placed away from other buildings, so you don’t have to worry about noise pollution disturbing teachers trying to mark in the classrooms neighbouring your games room, because there won’t need to be any neighbouring rooms with a mobile classroom.

family playing board games

Whatever it is your school needs, be that a yoga room, an exhibition space, a games room or a new library, mobile classrooms are an economical, green and quick alternative to solving your space problems. Don’t hesitate to expand your school if it can benefit your students’ mental health.

When the Second World War came along, the UK were in desperate need of housing to replace the many that were damaged or destroyed. Modular buildings came to the rescue and factories pumped out the components to build these temporary accommodations. Yet, despite their temporariness, many people still live in them to this day.

However, modular buildings are no longer the poorly erected, rapidly built constructions of the post-war era. Today, modular buildings can be found everywhere in a wide variety of sizes and configurations and are used for a multitude of purposes. Often praised for their low cost and easy customisation, modular buildings have become a staple of the construction world.

Despite this, there are still misconceptions that permeate the air around modular buildings. Here are some of the most common of these misconceptions that we will put to bed:

1: Modular Buildings are Cheaper, Therefore Low Quality

There was a time when prefabricated buildings – the practice of assembling structural components in a factory – were of poor quality. For these reasons, some people have been led to believe that the modular buildings currently in construction are reminiscent of the low-quality structures from post-war times – a view reinforced by the low-cost of construction.

It’s important to remember that manufacturing and construction has come a long way. Regulations and the understanding of materials has evolved immensely in the last few decades. Modern day modular buildings are assembled in a factory under strict quality control measures, ensuring each element of the building is reliable. Low cost does not equal poor quality when it comes to modular buildings; you get the benefit of both.

2: Modular Buildings Look Boring

Another misconception that persists about modular buildings is that they look very dull, uninspiring, and are uniform blocky buildings. Whilst modular buildings can be constructed in a uniform way, having a design similar to what most people might imagine, the fact is that modular buildings on the whole are actually incredibly customisable.

Modular buildings provide a wide range of designs and floor plans. You can customise prefabricated buildings to match or fit with the style of your existing buildings. So, whilst some modular buildings could be considered boring, they definitely do not have to be designed that way.

3: Modular Buildings are not Built to Last

Despite the fact that modular buildings are made to be quick and easily built constructions, that does not mean that they are not built to last. In fact, modular buildings are worthwhile investments precisely due to their structural integrity. Modular buildings are also 100% recoverable, so they can be conveniently relocated to another site if needed.


To find out more about what we supply, do not hesitate to contact our team, and we’ll be happy to assist you.

www.excelmodular.co.uk