Seamless process-led off site construction

Products on an unprecedented scale
By Paul Watson

Following an extensive eight-year research and development period involving a £12m investment, Panaloc is a seamless process-led offsite construction and MMC specialist with the capability to deliver mass customised products on an unprecedented scale.

Panaloc has the technology to design and manufacture structural components such as wall panels, roofs, pods and ceilings, all within a strict and efficient factory controlled environment.

Achieved through the use of automated intelligence CAD software all components are produced to exacting standards in terms of dimensional stability and accuracy

With good thermal, acoustic and fire protection properties, they are suitable for fast-track construction programmes and can incorporate mass customisation. What’s more, all components are universally suitable across all sectors of the construction industry, including low and high-rise housing, hotels, key worker and student accommodation, leisure, education, hospitals and healthcare, and the commercial arena.

Central to the production process created by Panaloc is its use of what is described as one of the world’s most advanced OSB (Orientated Strand Board) products currently available, Magnum board. A direct rival to traditional timber frame construction, Magnum board is the first solid wood construction system to be approved for use as walls, ceilings and roofs, and which can even be supplied with surfaces prepared for painting.

The boards is created when three or more layers of OSB4 are pressed and glue laminated together to deliver an eco-friendly structural wall or roof panel.

Eric Dean, Panaloc’s: “We believe that Panaloc represents a truly unique and refreshing proposition to the UK construction industry. With a background in carpentry and woodworking, and having grown frustrated by the constraints of other construction techniques, it has always been a dream to create an offsite construction process that not only combines the best in terms of CAD-CAM and CNC machining, but which does so as a means of producing structural components that quite simply fit together like Lego.

“It is quite feasible for us to design almost any type of building, or interpret those from a third party, and engineer the complete structure for delivery and erection on-site. Such is the sophistication of our process technology, we can turn an architect’s drawing into a 3D model accurate to plus or minus 1mm.”

From this the company can machine panels as a seamless operation that takes in light fittings and cable routes for walls and ceilings, utility cavities and door and window openings.

But not only is the Panaloc philosophy based on delivering the real benefits that can be gained from offsite construction, it’s also all about sustainability and renewability. As Dean suggests: “Everything about our operation is the ultimate in environmental friendliness. Not only are the core OSB4 raw materials that we use of the highest quality, they come from renewable sources and any waste products that are created are either fed back into panel production or used to create biomass pellets to fuel our own heating system. Indeed when it comes to OSB4, I suppose you could say we have zero waste.”

Magnum Board has the capacity to create wall panel structures up to 20 x 5 metres in dimension. And given the density inherent within the structure of the board, such panels can be used to create buildings up to ten storeys high without the need for any other structure.

Manufactured under strict factory controlled conditions, panels can be supplied fully insulated and prepared with any kind of finishing material, be it brickwork, cladding or rendering, ready for transportation to site. Indeed Panaloc has even worked in close cooperation with its logistics provider, David Bratt Transport of Manchester, to design and engineer a bespoke fleet of tri-axle semi trailers that are used solely for this purpose.

Panaloc also uses the board to create pods, whether in the form of kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms or other living spaces. Such pods come prepared with prefabricated plumbing and plug ‘n’ play electrics. Furthermore, they can be manufactured equipped with all fixtures and fittings – such as flooring, walling, bathroom suites, and kitchen units etc, all to the client’s specification. Panaloc even has the ability to supply units with internal surfaces prepared for painting.

Image shows the Panaloc production unit

More information: www.panaloc.co.uk