United Co-operatives
"I am delighted to report that the Widnes project went extremely well and we exceeded our sales targets in the first week of trading. We are now working with Yorkon to see how we can move other elements of the build process into the factory for future projects."
The Requirement
United Co-operatives is the UK’s largest regional co-operative society, operating in the food, travel, pharmacy, motor and funeral sectors.
The society has 525 food stores throughout the north of England, North Midlands and North Wales, employing around 10,000 people and achieving an annual turnover of close to £1bn.
United Co-operatives took the decision to use off-site construction in the Food Group with the aim of opening convenience stores more quickly and with reduced impact on the environment.
The Solution
The first United Co-operatives store to be built off site was located in Widnes, Cheshire. Eight steel-framed modules were manufactured by Yorkon and installed in less than a day to form a 376sqm convenience store.
Plumbing, chillers, freezer, work tops, ceramic tiled floor, toilets, partitions, glazing, doors and United Co-operatives’ branding were all pre-installed in the factory, reducing final fitting out on site to just two weeks.
The new store was designed to follow United Co-operatives’ corporate style with a cream external finish, canopy fascia detail, and blue doors and windows.
Because of the success of the first project, United Co-operatives now has plans to build up to five further stores using the Yorkon off-site building system.
Comments from the Client
Derek Fogg – General Manager, Property Group, United Co-operatives:
"Our stores are at the heart of local communities and we are constantly assessing how we impact on those communities.
We have found that manufacturing stores in a factory can cut disruption locally and reduce the effect on the environment, as well as allow our customers to start shopping with us more quickly.
I am delighted to report that the Widnes project went extremely well and we exceeded our sales targets in the first week of trading. We are now working with Yorkon to see how we can move other elements of the build process into the factory for future projects.
Speed of construction, particularly in the weeks before Christmas, is a major benefit to our business. The use of the Yorkon approach meant we were able to open the Widnes store and begin serving customers just 18 weeks after purchase of the site, which is a major achievement."
