The company invested in the 137,000 square foot Horizon facility in Braintree, relying on the freedom its approach provides building designers over volumetric designs that look like boxes. The opening of the ‘Horizon’ facility has produced the largest single production line in the UK and one of the most automated light gauge steel panel assembly lines in Europe, according to Bob Weston, chairman of British Offsite & Weston Group. It has eight robots installed to build automated manufacturing lines that can help with the supply of up to 4,000 new homes annually, reports Contract Journal.
When the facility is fully operating, it will employ about 180 people and run on a two-shift schedule five days a week. The factory’s ultra-flexible design broadens the range of buildings it can produce, from conventional houses to high-rise residences to schools.
It will first serve the group’s Weston Homes home construction division, but it also has local and regional home builders in mind as potential clients. The new robotic manufacturing line at “Horizon” allows for consolidating the labour of up to five crafts into one panel, according to Shaun Weston, managing director of British Offsite and son of Bob Weston.
Our MMC solutions are made to be readily incorporated into ongoing projects, which helps to speed up conventional home development. A specially created hybrid MMC, the UniSystem, is extremely adaptable and enables quick incorporation into conventional building designs. Light gauge panels, walls, roofs, and floors can all be created, and the panels can incorporate windows, doors, insulation, ventilation, fire-stopping, and external cladding.
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