The Pickstock Group Receives Warm Welcome in Milan

The Pickstock Group was warmly welcomed in Milan by Politecnico di Milano (Polytechnic University of Milan). The invitation to speak at the University’s Careers Abroad Event was extended in February and was quickly accepted. The event presented a fantastic opportunity to meet some of the exceptional young talent from one of the most distinguished and reputable engineering universities in Europe.

The event, organised by the University’s careers service, is hosted for undergraduate and postgraduate students from the Schools of Architecture and Design. The Pickstock Group was invited alongside other international companies, such as Louis Vuitton and Gucci.

Sara Pickstock represented The Pickstock Group at the event, and was extremely impressed with the students she met on the day. Sara commented, “The knowledge, enthusiasm and passion the students expressed for their subject was so inspiring. The students are a credit to Politecnico di Milano.

Sara presented an overview of the companies within The Pickstock Group and the sectors in which they operate. The presentation focused specifically on the relevant architecture and design requirements of The Pickstock Group in order to be most applicable to the students.

The presentation was followed by a two hour workshop designed and run by Sara, which aimed to assess the students’ abilities.  During the task the students concentrated on modular construction and were asked to come up with new designs specifically focusing on the hotel industry.

Once complete the teams presented their ideas and concepts to Sara and the rest of the group. The standard of work and ideas produced by the teams was extremely impressive, further reflecting the incredibly high standard of the students at Politecnico di Milano.

The final part of the day was a series of speed interviews with students. This provided the opportunity for Sara to interact with students on an individual basis, and get an indication of their skills and past experience.

Sara commented, “I really enjoyed spending the day at Politecnico di Milano and meeting all the students who came to the event. I was blown away by their skills and knowledge”. Sara added, “We hope to bring some of the students in for a further interview and we look forward to working with Politecnico di Milano again in the future.”

98% of Room Pods Now Installed at Colchester

The Pickstock Group’s student accommodation development in Colchester has almost all 381 student Room Pods installed into Phase 1 of the scheme. With just 2% of Room Pods now left to be put into position, installation has taken just 12 weeks from when the first module was installed on the 14th of February.

Roof cassettes manufactured by Elements Europe are now being installed on-site. Manufactured at Elements Europe’s factory, the cassettes provide a single ply roof structure onto which the main contractor can provide the roof insulation and membrane finish.

All 4 blocks of the building are now joined thanks to the link bridge that has been installed between Cores 2 and 3 giving access to the whole building. This will inevitably assist mechanical and electrical contractors that are now on-site carrying out containment and first fix works. Next week will see dry lining packages starting to be installed to the corridors ready for plastering work to commence.

The building’s external façade is also seeing great progress with phased brickwork and render panels being installed, once complete the building will fit in perfectly with the surrounding area with red brick and cream render.

Construction of Phase 2 has also commenced now that remediation and stabalisation ground work is complete. The second tower crane is now fully operational and rigs are back on-site carrying out piling works. Out of the ground work will begin at the end of May when work on the super structure will commence.

398 additional student Room Pods will be installed in Phase 2, totalling the amount of student beds available at the scheme to 779. There will also be 57 kitchen Pods installed for those students that take the cluster flat option on offer.

Paul Rogerson, Site Manager commented “I’m thrilled with the progress of the works on-site with key milestones being hit on schedule.” Paul added “It’s really exciting to see the finer detail of the building coming together.”

Hatbox Show Flat Opens its Doors

Doors have opened to the new show flat at Hatbox, Luton’s newest student accommodation scheme.

The show flat will appeal to many students’ aspirations, dressed with modern accessories to reflect student living. The show flat is a huge benefit to the scheme, giving students a taste of what living at Hatbox would be like.

CRM Ltd is the chosen operator for Hatbox and is the largest independent accommodation company in the UK, managing over 19,000 beds nationwide. CRM has now launched its marketing campaign to drive students to view the show flat and book their room in time for the accommodation opening this September.

Visitors to the show flat will also be interested to hear the many on-site facilities Hatbox has to offer, which will include a cinema, gym, laundry facilities and study room, as well as a doctor’s surgery and pharmacy on the ground floor. Another benefit to students living at Hatbox is that it is just a short walk from the University of Bedfordshire campus as well as local restaurants, bars and shops.

Elements Europe will manufacture and install a total of 199 Room Pods to the scheme. Room Pods include studio rooms with en-suite bathrooms as well as en-suite cluster rooms which will be arranged around communal kitchens. The Room Pods feature a large window, allowing for plenty of natural light into the room.

The developer, Wayne Gold of GolDev Ltd commented “The new show flat is another reason why off-site construction is a great solution for a scheme on an expedited program. Having the show flat delivered internally complete meant that we could start our marketing activity in getting students to visit, and will hopefully improve the number of pre lettings prior to completion of the building.”

Elements Europe Welcomes International Visitors

Elements Europe has welcomed visitors from Samsung Everland, part of the Samsung Group based in Korea. Their visit was arranged by SCI Steel, the leading independent provider of technical expertise and best practice in the steel construction sector. Being asked by SCI to meet with their visitors was a privilege for Elements Europe who has worked in the past with SCI on a book detailing steel methods of construction.

Kevin Arthur, Sales Director for Elements Europe presented the benefits of modular construction to the group and gave an overview of some of the projects Elements Europe has been involved in during recent years. The special guests were also shown the brand new Elements Europe video that demonstrates the whole process of modular construction from manufacture at the Elements Europe factory to the delivery to site, and installation process.

Kevin commented, “The interest from international companies has grown dramatically over recent years. The increased interest level just proves that modular construction is recognised as key to construction all over the world, providing a faster, more efficient build process.”

Kevin added “We were thrilled to be asked by the leading steel construction regulator to meet with their guests.”

Elements Europe Launch New Video

Elements Europe has launched a brand new company video as a further means to present its products and services to the construction industry.

The video not only demonstrates the whole process of modular construction from works off-site at the factory to the delivery on-site but it also explains how Elements Europe was born, and about The Pickstock Group’s history in construction.

A 120 bed student accommodation scheme in Lincoln is featured in the film, a site which was logistically challenging due to its very constrained position. The scheme which was executed as a turnkey solution by The Pickstock Group shows just how efficient the process is when Elements Europe works in collaboration with its parent construction company JR Pickstock Ltd, completing the build in just 28 weeks.

The video allows the viewer to really understand the process which is involved in modular construction, featuring key members of the team from the Managing Director to the buying department as well as explaining our products and past projects.

Hayley Jones, Marketing Manager at Elements Europe commented, “The new video is a great resource. Showing this to prospective clients proves our capabilities and experience in the industry, and it also educates the less informed about off-site modular construction.”

Watch the video.