TRENDING
Yellowstone Lodge , one of a group of modular buildings in the U . S . national park
KEYS TO SUCCESS
DECIDE EARLY : The decision to take a modular approach to hotel design and construction needs to be made early in the design process to avoid losing time and money to redesign , Genslers ’ Gail McCleese says . “ Changes mid-project are cost-prohibitive .” PAY ATTENTION TO DETAILS : While a modular construction may appear simple , it actually “ takes more thought , more coordination and more attention to details ,” Concord Hospitality ’ s Carl Hren says . A lack of coordination can lead to modular units that simply don ’ t fit together , and fixing that means “ you will lose tons of dollars and all the time you would have gained .” FIGURE OUT FINANCING : Another key difference is that anywhere from 50 % to 70 % of construction costs are incurred at the start of a project , McCleese says . “ You ’ re buying the product upfront , and not in stages .” Lenders and other financial backers need to understand this change .
Lodge consists of about 50 modules , most of which contain two guest rooms , that were transported about 420 miles from the Guerdon factory and assembled on site . Three modules shipped in July 2014 , were erected before winter and opened the following spring . The two remaining lodges shipped in 2015 and opened in spring 2016 . Each module was transported
Concord Hospitality Enterprises used modular design to build the AC Hotel Louisville , Kentucky .
fully painted and carpeted , and with tile , lighting and fixtures installed .
Why use modular design in this case ? “ The primary reason was sustainability ,” says Rick Hoeninghausen , director of sales and marketing at Xanterra Hotel Collection , which manages lodging within Yellowstone – to meet LEED standards and take a more efficient and environmentally friendly approach ; it saved about a year on construction time , he says .
ADDITIONAL BENEFITS Along with shorter construction schedules , modular design can produce higher-quality fabrication , as building elements are produced under ideal conditions in a factory . “ The finished product is actually dimensionally more accurate ,” than a traditionally built property , Duperouzel says .
Because crews aren ’ t working when surfaces are wet and slippery , nor right next to moving vehicles , safety during construction is enhanced , McCleese says . And since the modules are built in a factory , the space needed to storematerials onsite is reduced , she adds .
While modular design can make sense in some remote or high-cost areas , it ’ s not always the best solution . Transportation costs tend to negate any savings once the project is more than about 500 miles from the fabrication site , McCleese says .
The benefits of the approach tend to be most pronounced when building projects are fairly standard from one to the next . “ Hospitality is repetition ,” McCleese says . “ You ’ re building the same thing 300 or 600 times .”
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