VIVALDA Group, the parent company of Cumbernauld-based MSP Facades, Prism Powder Coating and Vivalda Scotland, has announced the completion of its roll-out of ‘dust-free’ fabrication services across all nine of its UK branches.
The business said it has long advocated the use of off-site fabrication to help contractors deal with the risk of dust inhalation.
Earlier this year, the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) launched its Dust Kills campaign, spreading awareness of the dangers of inhaling dust from stone, wood and other common building site materials.
James Butler, MD of Vivalda’s manufacturing division, said, “We all know that breathing in dust is potentially harmful. However, in practice it’s often hard to enforce the use of masks and goggles, which can be left at home or in the van, so go unused. We’re seeing more contractors take a pragmatic approach to this potential health and safety timebomb by outlawing cutting on-site, except in very necessary circumstances.
“Moving your cladding fabrication offsite is now becoming the norm for responsible contractors who take safety seriously. We’ve also proven that for most cladding projects outsourcing the fabrication and preparation of façade panels is highly cost-effective.”
In 2020, Vivalda undertook research into the cost benefits of offsite fabrication and found that sub-contractors could reduce fabrication costs by up to 50% by outsourcing the process.
Vivalda contacted cladding installation contractors across the UK and asked them to provide their hourly rates for three specific processes: standard board drilling, specialist drilling, and the fixing of brackets to rear of boards. The analysis found that on average sub-contractor labour rates were up to 30-40% higher than those charged by Vivalda for its offsite fabrication services.
“These findings are worthy of repetition from a commercial perspective alone,” James Butler added. “If outsourcing this process also minimises your people’s exposure to dust whilst also benefiting from precision off-site fabrication, isn’t that worth investigating?”
