Temporary buildings can take a lot of forms and sizes and can be something that is used for a massive range of different purposes by companies, schools, community groups, and other organisations when some extra indoor space is needed. Temporary structures mean that these organisations can provide interior workspaces so they don’t have to move functions off-site and deal with logistical problems. They can also make it possible for indoor events to be held in purpose-built buildings that can be erected fast, and then taken away again when the event is over.
Companies like Smart Space, who provide temporary buildings to meet all of these different types of needs, allow customers to choose to either hire the structures for as long as they need them or to buy them and use them as longer-term solutions. You will be able to see from some of the examples we are going to look at here when one option might be a better choice than another. However, in either case, temporary buildings allow the organisation that is using them to get their building set up and operational very quickly, which is one of the ways in which, even for more permanent solutions, they can be the best solution.
Here are five of the common scenarios when temporary structures are used:
School Classrooms
Schools can sometimes need a place to hold lessons while their main buildings are being expanded or refurbished, or because they have had to rapidly increase the number of students attending – for instance, due to the closure of another school in the area. When this happens, it is common for a school to choose to use a temporary building to house classrooms, although temporary buildings can also be used for other things a school needs, such as a sports hall.
Buildings used by schools must meet the standards required for places where children learn, in terms of temperature and facilities, and so can require specific designs that have been created for this very purpose. School temporary buildings can sometimes remain in use for a number of years and become classrooms and facilities where some kids go through entire school years, and so they are designed to have the same facilities as permanent classrooms in terms of heating, electricity, bathroom facilities, and everything else a busy classroom needs.
School classrooms need to be available and operational during term times, and so another time when temporary buildings can be used by schools is when there has been damage to main buildings due to things like flooding. Temporary classrooms can be erected on the school site quickly, allowing normal school routines to continue, even when there has been a disaster of this type.
Warehousing
One of the other most popular uses for temporary buildings is for warehousing. Warehouses, by their very nature, need to be large, dry, and in some cases also have controlled temperatures, but other than that, they are fairly simple pieces of architecture, so temporary structures lend themselves very well to this.
Businesses use temporary buildings for warehouses for a number of reasons. In some cases, it may be that they have a sudden demand for extra space, for example, they start selling a new line of products which are larger and consume more space than they have available, or they are a business that has very seasonal sales and needs a lot more warehouse space at certain times of the year than at others. Another example could be a business that has grown in popularity more rapidly than it was anticipating and, therefore, needs a fast solution to allow them to keep more stock.
One of the main benefits to using temporary warehouses, in this case, is that the business can keep everything on the same site as any existing warehouses, allowing them to manage logistics and fulfilment more easily than renting warehouse space elsewhere. The flexibility of being able to install new warehouse buildings quickly, as well as being able to scale to their own demand, also means this solution can be very cost effective for them.
Showrooms
Another time when temporary buildings become a good solution for companies is when they need showrooms in which to sell large items, for example, cars, agricultural equipment, or large home fittings. Car showrooms are often made in this way, as it allows a car dealership to keep some of their vehicles indoors, where they can be shown off to their best and the customers can take their time looking over them, whatever the weather.
Showrooms constructed in this way can also make it easier for businesses to expand, for instance, if they manufacture or refurbish things they usually sell online, they can branch out into having a physical place to sell their products on their existing site by putting up a showroom.
Offices
Extra office space can be another thing businesses gain from using temporary structures, making this a good solution if their usual premises are unavailable (perhaps due to work being carried out or damage to them), or when the team has expanded faster than expected and the business doesn’t want to use another location to house them. In these situations, temporary offices are used much in the same way that temporary buildings are used for schools – providing fully functional workspaces with all of the facilities needed for people to work and operate devices like computers and printers. As with schools, these temporary offices can end up being used for the medium term in a lot of cases because they provide everything the business needs.
As you might expect, this kind of building structure also works well when you need an office at a temporary location. A good example of this can be on a building site, where there will usually need to be a place where project management activities and administration can take place on location. A temporary office can also be useful at a big event, particularly an outdoor event. Being able to put up things like ticket offices, admin centres, and other necessary offices at large festivals, for example, is an important part of the running of them.
Commercial Buildings
There is a wide range of other kinds of commercial applications for temporary-style buildings, whether they are erected just for a short duration, for example, during an event or project, or whether they are there to be used on a more permanent basis.
Shops, cafes, workshops, and even things like churches can be housed in temporary buildings, either because they need to be on-site for a limited period of time, or because this is a suitable style of building for them to be in more permanently, and it is the fastest and most cost-effective means to get them in place. Even some airports use temporary buildings as terminals.
Some types of commercial premises often need to put up new buildings and this can sometimes be for seasonal reasons. Garden centres are a good example – they may want a specific type of building during the Christmas period to sell their Christmas trees and related products, where they may want outdoor space the rest of the year. Or, they may want to have a showroom for garden furniture in a place that was previously used for another type of product that could be sold outdoors. They may also want to use temporary buildings as plant nurseries.
Another good example can be things like cafes that serve busy roads, which can be opened quickly and easily without the need for a major construction project.
In fact, just about every kind of business you can think of will have some occasions where they can benefit from being able to create and use new buildings quickly wherever they need them, or from being able to open locations at events where they won’t have a permanent presence like festivals and markets.
Temporary buildings are structures are something that is used in the strategies of a huge number of businesses, organisations, and community projects, and when you think about it, you have probably been inside a lot of them! Whether it is a place where people eat and shop, where businesses work and produce their wares or some of the buildings you see at outdoor events, there are thousands of these temporary buildings currently in use all over the UK. It is worth also knowing that temporary buildings come in a variety of types, with some intended to be purely temporary and hired out – such as those you see at festivals, some designed as semi-permanent interim structures – such as those used as workplaces or classrooms while offices and schools are redeveloped, and some are actually created as permanent steel buildings that businesses can use as things like workshops, showrooms, and warehouses.
As you can see, knowing about a good temporary building company near you can be very useful if you run a business or are a manager in a public organisation!