TRENDING
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MODULAR DESIGN HAS EFFICIENCIES — AND SOME SPECIFIC CHALLENGES .
Contributed by KAREN KROLL
To construct the AC Hotel Louisville Downtown in Louisville , Kentucky , when qualified labor was in short supply , Concord Hospitality Enterprises turned to modular design . “ We were able to do it at a cost-neutral price and gain three months on the schedule ,” says Carl Hren , senior vice president of development at the Raleigh , North Carolina-based developer , owner and operator .
Modular design relies on independent yet standard parts that are transported to a property and assembled into place . It currently accounts for a small percentage of hotel construction projects , but industry experts say its use is steadily growing . Modular properties comprise about 5 % of Concord ’ s portfolio , but Hren says he expects that number to grow to 10 % to 15 % over the next five to 10 years . As the Louisville AC project showed , one of modular ’ s primary advantages over a traditional construction process is its ability to accelerate construction schedules . With modular design , different jobs can occur concurrently , says Gail McCleese , global hospitality practice area leader at Gensler , an architecture and design firm – for instance , walls fabricated offsite while the foundation is being built .
The compressed construction schedules also tend to lower overall funding costs , as borrowing times are reduced , says Ian Duperouzel , sales manager at Estilo Group , a Perth , Western Australiabased provider of project and asset management and other services within the hotel industry . Another benefit : The hotel can open for business more quickly . Modular design can be of particular value in remote areas , Duperouzel says . “ Locating the suitably qualified and skilled trades within the remote area can be difficult and at the same time expensive ,” he says . With a modular approach , the construction team can be far from the building site .
Canyon Village is one of the most remote sites within Yellowstone National Park in the western U . S . Moreover , heavy snowfall makes the area inaccessible for about six months each year . When it came time to replace 200 aging cabins within the park , a traditional approach could have stretched the construction schedule to several years , says Paul Dille , marketing manager at Guerdon Modular Buildings in Boise , Idaho .
Instead , the park used modular design . Each of the five lodges within Canyon
10 hotelsmag . com March 2019