Modular hoarding: keeping construction sites productive in winter

When the winter weather hits, it can bring challenges with it. For construction projects, wind, rain, and icy conditions can disrupt internal fit-out, cause lost time, and lead to slips and falls on icy routes. 

While hoarding is often thought of as a site-perimeter solution, it also offers a practical way to keep sites and teams warm, dry, and productive. Here, we explore how modular hoarding solutions such as Hoardfast® Firescreen can be used for both internal site rooms and external weather protection, keeping sites operational whatever the weather.  

External welfare and site rooms and the risk of downtime 

Picture a January morning on a tall build. Every tea break and toilet trip means a trip down the stairs, and a cold, wet walk across the yard to an outdoor cabin. Then the same trip back. Multiply that by the number of people working on site, and the number of hours lost moving around the site can add up fast.  

In practice, total time lost varies depending on the size of the site and the size of the team. For someone working on the fourth floor of a building, going down four flights in full PPE, crossing 150 metres of yard, and coming back up, it is likely to take about ten minutes before they've even stepped inside the welfare cabin. If a crew of 12 workers each makes three trips a day, that adds up to six hours of paid time lost every day, or 30 hours a week. 

Lost transit time is only part of the cost. On a tight urban site, portacabins take up valuable yard space that could be used for storing material, or for vehicle access. They must be craned in, connected to services, and heated through the winter (see more on portacabins vs internal site offices here). The routes between the building and the yard also have to be lit, gritted, and kept clear of obstructions. Every toilet trip in the dark or on ice is another chance for someone to slip or fall, which the HSE cites as one of the most common causes of injury on UK construction sites. 

Step one: weatherproof the envelope  

If the building structure is open to the weather, cold, wet conditions can bring work inside to a halt. Modular hoarding can provide temporary weather protection while the facade is completed. Hoardfast® Firescreen is a fire-rated, steel-faced panel that can be installed floor to ceiling to create temporary external walls. The insulated mineral wool core blocks wind, rain, and cold, so work can continue inside while the building envelope is completed. The panels are also fire-rated to EI30 or EI60, which matters on a slab-to-slab build where open floors can allow fire and smoke to spread. 

Step two: bring site rooms and welfare inside  

Once the building is weathertight, the same panels can be used to build internal site accommodation. Hoardfast Firescreen can create offices, workstations, canteens, drying and changing rooms, toilets, showers, prayer rooms, and other temporary site rooms. That means fewer cabins in the yard and facilities closer to where people are working.  

No-one has to go outside for a break; rest areas are warmer, less time is lost, and morale is likely to improve.  

It also helps contractors meet their welfare duties under Schedule 2 of CDM 2015, which covers toilets, washing facilities, changing rooms, and places to eat and rest. As the job progresses, rooms can be reconfigured or moved to keep the welfare facilities close to the workforce.  

Spotlight: real hoarding case studies   

Internal site rooms at Marble Arch Place  

In 2021, Westgate Global supplied Hoardfast Firescreen for the Marble Arch Place project - a major mixed-use development in London's West End. During the initial phases of the project, key contractor Multiplex established off-site offices and welfare facilities, but as the project progressed to the slab-to-slab construction phase, they needed to relocate site offices and welfare facilities into the building itself.  

Westgate supplied 250 linear metres of Hoardfast, including 220 metres of 60-minute Firescreen. The panels formed weatherproof offices, meeting rooms, a canteen and break area, separate male and female toilets and a prayer room, all inside the building and close to where people were working. As the build progressed, the rooms were moved and reconfigured to suit each new phase. When the project was finished, the panels were returned for recycling, in line with the project’s sustainability objectives.  

Redevelopment of iconic Piccadilly Lights on a tight, city centre build  

The redevelopment of the Piccadilly Lights and the One Sherwood Street 'Lucent' site is one of central London’s most complex construction projects, combining high-profile listed façades with new-build elements. With seven-storeys to transform, lots of workers on site, and the site itself open to the elements, main contractor Wates needed a solution that could be installed internally to create employee site rooms and double as external weatherproofing. With the site located in the heart of one of London’s busiest areas, traditional cabin welfare units were not suitable. Wates worked closely with Westgate Global to install Hoardfast Firescreen and Hoardfast PVC. The hoarding served a dual purpose: it created clean, compliant welfare accommodation for the workforce inside, while also weatherproofing the open site from the outside, all without the footprint or disruption of traditional cabin units.   

One hire, two jobs 

Hoardfast Firescreen does more than one job. The same panels that protect the inside of the building from the weather can move inside to become welfare rooms as the façade goes up. As the project evolves, they can be moved for reuse or taken down. A single hire/purchase covers temporary walls, fire separation, and site accommodation, which cuts down on separate cost and delivery time. Because the panels can be reused and recycled at the end of a project, less waste goes to landfill, helping meet the sustainability targets many contractors now work to. 

Your winter-ready checklist  

Before the weather turns, it's worth taking a look at how your site could improve efficiency during the winter months. 

• Check where welfare sits now. Time a round trip from your highest working floor to the canteen and toilets. You might be surprised how long it takes. 

• Map the walking routes. Look for poor lighting, uneven ground, and areas that ice over or flood. 

• Choose the area for internal welfare. Keep them close to where the bulk of the work is taking place, ideally with easy access to water, drainage, and power. 

• Confirm the fire rating you need. Check it against the project's fire strategy, then update the site fire risk assessment to include rooms inside the building. 

• Plan for the next move. Agree where rooms will go as works move through the building, so moving them doesn't hold up the programme. 

• Book early. Book a site survey in the autumn, so everything is in place before the cold weather arrives. 

Winter doesn't have to mean lost hours. Talk to Westgate Global's Hoardfast team about hiring or buying Hoardfast Firescreen, and book a site survey to find out where our internal site room solution could keep your crew warm, dry, and working, whatever the weather.