Volumetric Building Companies began in 2009 as Vaughan Buckley Construction when founder Vaughan Buckley, an Australian national, was in college in the USA. Now, just 13 years later, it is on track to be a $1bn company, he says.
Volumetric Building Companies (VBC) specialises in multi-occupancy residential buildings such as hotels and student halls, offering both steel and timber framed systems.
UK market entry plans follow VBC’s acquisition earlier this year of Polish modular manufacturer Polcom, adding Polcom’s steel modular system to VBC’s wood construction technology.
Backed by private equity firm Pimco, VBC also acquired the assets of failed US modular builder Katerra last year.
It is unclear what proportion of a VBC building in the UK will be made in Poland but the company says that it plans to have a UK manufacturing presence in due course.
Leading VBC’s UK drive is Andy Smith, who was previously head of business development at Caledonian Modular for four years until its collapse earlier this year. Before that he was head of sales at Rollalong for a couple of years and business development manager with McAvoy Group.
He said: “We now have a dedicated management team in place in the UK and there are plans to have an offsite manufacturing facility for VBC here, in addition to our existing and extensive modular production resources in mainland Europe.
“Our aim in the next three years is to secure a strong order pipeline in our target sectors in the UK – student accommodation, build-to-rent, affordable housing, defence, custodial, and hotels – and to raise the profile of VBC here, ahead of our expansion into Western Europe. We are already in advanced discussions with a number of hotel groups, private developers, major contractors, and social housing providers.”
He added: “VBC has the resource and proven expertise in the industrialisation of construction, using a design for manufacturing and assembly (DfMA) approach and data intelligence to drive continuous improvement. We have dominated the hospitality and affordable housing spaces in other countries with our innovative timber volumetric and steel-framed offsite solutions. We also manufacture ‘components’ inhouse – such as bathrooms and cabinets for kitchens and bedrooms – giving us complete control and security of supply for fixtures, fittings and finishes from design to manufacture, installation and handover.”
VBC chief executive Vaughan Buckley said: “VBC is set to become the leading provider of optimised, cost-effective, sustainable solutions for modular buildings around the world. We have tremendous capabilities in the engineering and delivery of advanced modular solutions and buildings which are fully finished and even furnished offsite. Having technology-led production facilities on multiple continents, we are now well placed to drive change, transform construction, and address the housing crisis in the UK, Europe, US, and globally.”
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