A HIGHBRIDGE company has won a £2.4million contract to manufacture bathroom shower pods for a new 20-storey student accommodation development in London.

Offsite Solutions will produce 761 GRP shower pods for the block at Wembley Park, developed by Greystar.

This is Offsite Solutions’ second contract for main contractor McAleer & Rushe and will involve the production of standard and larger accessible enhanced GRP bathroom pods.

Sustainably manufactured and fitted out at Offsite Solutions’ factory in Somerset, the finished bathrooms for Wembley Park will be installed on site in just a few hours. Pod manufacturing will be completed by spring 2024.

Designed by HTA, the 770-bed scheme will open to its first occupants in September 2025.

The shower rooms will have a new metro style brick bond tile-effect finish which avoids the need for grout to the wet areas to reduce maintenance.

James Stephens, managing director of Offsite Solutions said: “We are very pleased to be working on our first scheme for Greystar, which has an impressive portfolio of 120,000 student beds globally.

"We have a long track record of providing high quality, low maintenance bathrooms to developers and contractors in the student sector.

“There is a clear under-supply in student homes across the UK and demand continues to outstrip supply, particularly in London.”

Commenting on their use of pods, Harrison Hart, development associate at Greystar, said: “As a business, we are driving the use of offsite construction for bathrooms for the majority of our student schemes as it aligns with our ESG commitments.

"Pods generate less waste through more efficient use of materials, less traffic to site, provide a better working environment for the bathroom fitout, and quality is better.

“Design development for the bathrooms on this project has been an incredibly quick process and has been completed at an earlier stage than if we were using in-situ bathroom construction.

"It is then possible to see the first off pod early on to verify and refine the design detailing.

“Having one single supplier is very helpful to simplify procurement, design and site management, and still gives us flexibility.”

Darragh Greenan, contracts director at McAleer & Rushe, said: “The use of bathroom pods for this project reflects our commitment to supporting offsite manufacturing and all the benefits it can bring – increasing efficiency on site, reducing material deliveries and the associated carbon emissions, and reducing site waste.

"There are also clear quality control advantages as we have the opportunity to assess the quality of the bathroom finishes before going into full production.”

As a material, GRP has low environmental impact. It is light to transport, strong, highly durable, and requires much less energy to produce than steel or concrete. It is also 100 per cent recyclable.

Offsite Solutions’ GRP pods have been widely used in the student living sector for many years where robustness, longevity, ease of maintenance and lower capital and operating costs are primary considerations.

The pods have a life of at least 50 years and so offer significant life cycle cost benefits for retained assets.

As a material, GRP has low environmental impact. It is light to transport, strong, highly durable, and requires much less energy to produce than steel or concrete. It is also 100 per cent recyclable.