Customer: Southampton University

Location: Southampton

Requirement: The University of Southampton’s internationally renowned Optoelectronics Research Centre – a driving force behind the technology of the internet – needed to find high-quality office accommodation, following a fire at its Highfield Campus.

Two large-scale interim buildings were needed for two years to ensure the important work done at the research centre and the School of Electronics and Computer Science could continue uninterrupted. To ensure a smooth transition, the buildings had to be up and running very quickly, while providing a high-quality, permanent-standard environment for people to work in.

Solution: Three companies were invited to tender, but the proposal put forward by Portakabin was by far the best option.

Barrie French, Faculty Project Manager at the University of Southampton, explains: “When we met with the team from the Portakabin Southampton Hire Centre it was soon apparent that its buildings would comply with the university’s demanding quality standards and would offer an excellent working environment to end users."  

“The company’s Customer Charter was particularly impressive and was a key factor in our decision to work with them. This provided us with additional assurance that the buildings would be completed on time and on budget.”

The unique Portakabin Customer Charter clearly lays out the company’s commitment to delivering excellent standards of customer service throughout every project. It also states that if Portakabin fails to deliver on the on-time promise set out in the Charter, customers will get a week’s free hire for every day the building is late* – giving customers complete peace of mind.

Barrie continues: “This reassurance, combined with the excellent quality of the buildings, made it clear from the outset that Portakabin would provide us with the ideal solution for our accommodation needs.”

Within four weeks, two two-storey buildings had been installed on the site, providing 2,000m² of high-quality office space – almost the size of two Olympic swimming pools.

Barrie adds: “More than 200 people are now working and studying in the building and they are pleased with the high standard of the new facilities. The quality of service we have received from Portakabin has been second-to-none and we will certainly be working with the company in future. In fact, we have already placed an order for another Portakabin building which will be delivered and constructed in the next month.”