Yorkon and Tesco Set New Record for Speed of Construction following Cumbria Floods
Off-site specialist and Portakabin subsidiary, Yorkon, has set a new record for speed of construction to help Tesco ease some of the problems facing the flood-hit community of Workington in Cumbria.
A new, 13,300sqft purpose-built interim Tesco supermarket was delivered and installed on a brownfield site in an unprecedented 18 hours, and open and trading just 13 days after start on site.
Yorkon and main contractors Johnson Construction worked through the night, completing the installation of the store at 6am ready for shop fitting to begin.
Opening today, the supermarket will operate in addition to Tesco's main store in Workington which remains open but is now out of reach to the thousands of residents cut off on the north side of the River Derwent. The community in the Seaton and Northside areas of Workington, as well as those along the coast to Flimby and Maryport now face a detour of up to 40 miles to Workington town centre after bridges were destroyed or closed following the floods.
Commenting on the project, Daniel Frith, Tesco Development Manager, said, "This is the first time we have ever built a store in such a short time. At this time of year our customers are busy enough without a three-hour journey just to get to the supermarket. Many of our own staff have been badly affected by flooding so the temporary store will help them too."
"Yorkon has been part of an outstanding construction team. This project is a really exceptional achievement in such a short time."
David Johnson, Director and General Manager of Yorkon, said "We are immensely proud of what has been achieved at Workington. Tesco, Johnson Construction and the Yorkon team - both in the factory and on site - have pulled out all the stops to make this happen. The entire building was manufactured less than a week after we received the order from Tesco and we worked around the clock to install the store on time and in less than 24 hours." 
Yorkon craned 26 14m long modules into position in an accelerated programme of one unit every 30 minutes. This involved two teams of ten Yorkon site staff working in shifts through the night and at a weekend, and using two cranes to achieve a watertight envelope as fast as possible, ready for the shop fitting teams to move in.
The store, which has a retail sales area of 10,000sqft, is a has developed with Tesco, used for the first time at Barnsley in South Yorkshire. It is almost three times the size of the convenience stores manufactured by Yorkon for Tesco previously, and has been engineered to minimise the number of internal columns for maximum clear spans.
Facilities at Workington will include an in-store bakery, frozen food and chiller sections, office, store room, staff facilities, plant room, cleaner's area and bulk storage.
Yorkon has worked with Tesco for the past eight years, delivering modular convenience stores for both standalone sites and petrol forecourts, and is the UK's market leader in off-site construction solutions for the retail sector.
To see a video of the rapid building installation, click here www.yorkon.co.uk/tesco
