From a state-of-the-art facility in Duleek, County Meath, Instaspace Ltd. designs, manufactures and delivers high-quality modular building solutions to the educational, healthcare, commercial, pharmaceutical, administration and recreational sectors nationwide. We spoke to general manager Seamus Torris to find out more about Instaspace’s industry-leading turnkey building systems.
As offsite construction continues to grow in popularity here in Ireland, Instaspace Ltd.’s products and services have never been in greater demand. The company boasts a proven track record – going back three-and-a-half decades – in manufacturing and delivering modular, prefabricated building systems to suit any purpose, with all structures available for purchase or rental at highly competitive rates.
Due to the unrivalled speed and quality of build and the energy efficiency inherent in the finished product, coupled with the lack of traditional building skills and scarcity of raw materials hamstringing the industry at present, offsite construction has never made more sense than it does right now. Supplying modular building solutions since 1987, Instaspace have the experience and expertise to help fill this growing niche in the market.
“With offsite construction, the quality is always extremely high as all the work is done in a controlled factory environment,” confirms general manager Seamus Torris. “We’ve been in this purpose-built 30,000 sq ft manufacturing facility here in Duleek since 2004 and the quality of our final product is second to none.
“The building systems are certified to all current building regulations and come with A1 energy rating. Speed is key and site preparations can be carried out concurrent to construction of the building that’s going to be put in place. 70% of construction would be completed before the building leaves our factory.”
Are modern methods of construction the future of building in Ireland? “Without a shadow of doubt – and especially in the current environment with labour and materials so difficult to source. You can’t beat the quality of products manufactured in a controlled factory setting. We store all our materials in a warehouse and the work is not in any way weather dependent. Offsite construction offers massive advantages over traditional building methods.”
Instaspace provides complete, bespoke, turnkey building systems from all groundworks, landscaping, lifts, stairs, ramps, railings, carparks and roundabouts to complete internal fit out, with mechanical and electrical installations, interior design, flooring, furniture and fittings, if specified. They also offer a full design and consultation service, including all structural, mechanical and electrical design, and can arrange planning permission, fire safety certification and disability access certs.
“From green grass to commissioning, we provide the entire turnkey solution and will project-manage and certify the building,” Seamus confirms. “Internally and externally, with cladding, etc., there are unlimited options and our buildings easily exceed what can be achieved by conventional buildings when it comes to airtightness, U-values and acoustic performance.”
For any project aimed at creating additional accommodation in a school, college, hospital, healthcare facility, office, canteen, laboratory, crèche, playschool or sports centre, Instaspace can professionally and rapidly take the building from planning and design stage right through to commissioning and hand-over with the minimum of fuss.
Operating ISO-certified Quality, Environmental and Health & Safety management systems, Instaspace provide modern educational facilities constructed from quality materials and in line with current building regulations and have a proven track record for producing prefabricated building systems to meet commercial, administration, pharma and healthcare additional-space needs. Indeed, during lockdown, they were called upon to carry out essential services for the HSE and also for Bellurgan Engineering in Dundalk.
“We did some essential works for the HSE during the height of the pandemic and also put in some extra manufacturing space at Bellurgan Engineering Dundalk, who make parts for ventilators. At the start of the pandemic, they had to add an emergency manufacturing facility to their existing plant very quickly and we were delighted to help out with that.”
Instaspace has worked extensively in the educational sector both in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, with some of the countless completed projects including Claregalway ETNS, St Olivers Community School, St Mary’s National School in Dublin, Drogheda Laytown ETNS, Little Angels Special School, Rochestown ETNS in Cork, Scoil Mhuire Abbesyside Dungarvan and Gaelcholáiste an Phiarsaigh, Dublin.
“At the moment, we’re doing a nice secondary school extension at Loreto Abbey in Rathfarnham – a first storey on top of an original building, which we also provided six or seven years ago,” Seamus reveals. “We’re also doing two two-storey blocks with lovely rainscreen cladding at Cashel Community School to provide additional space and a large two-storey extension to Blessington Community College. Meanwhile, at Dunlavin Community College, we’re adding extra classroom space to cater for science, home economics and special assistant teaching.”
Instaspace’s modular buildings for education are attractive, warm, bright and comfortable spaces designed to enhance the learning experience of all students. They offer single classrooms or multiple buildings that can be placed in clusters to create a campus feel. A wide range of exterior finishes is available and these can be incorporated to match the existing building.
Buildings can be custom designed to suit individual, specialised needs, encompassing a diverse range of classroom options to suit all requirements and specifications, with units invariably delivered on time and within budget. Instaspace also provide crèche and childcare units, designed and built to suit the needs of infants and young children.
“We have a highly-skilled crew of diligent and experienced professionals who make an invaluable contribution to the company’s success,” points out the general manager, who has been part of that team since 1990. “We have 50 direct employees but could have another 100-120 working on any given day, including hauliers, plumbers, electricians, etc. We have developed strong working relationships with a tried and trusted network of subbies and suppliers nationwide, many of whom we’ve worked with for 25 years or more.”
Instaspace has come a long, long way since it was established from humble beginnings by CEO Tony O’Driscoll in a farmyard outbuilding in Donabate, Dublin 35 years ago. They have provided invaluable building solutions to a wide range of satisfied clients including the HSE, the Department of Education, Louth & Meath Education and Training Board, Dublin & Dun Laoghaire ETB, Kilkenny & Carlow ETB, St James Hospital, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, Rottapharma, Ipsen Pharma, BMS Swords Laboratories and many others.
“We’ve worked at Dublin Airport and also completed another essential project at Portlaoise Hospital during the pandemic. We do a vast range of private and public sector work, although the bulk of it would be with the HSE and Department of Education at present,” Seamus notes. “We’re on a solid footing going forward as our order book is almost full going into the middle of 2022.
“Staff are difficult to get but we’re fortunate to have high levels of staff retention at Instaspace as we create a good working environment and they tend to stay with us and become highly skilled and experienced. The work itself is on a production-line basis and they continuously improve and perfect their performance to operate to very high standards.
“We’re constantly improving the quality of the products that we are turning out and delivering on our commitments,” the GM concludes. “We also provide an aftersales service on all our building systems so clients have complete peace of mind that they have a premium-quality, bespoke building that’s delivered quickly, professionally and will stand the test of time.”
Instaspace Ltd.,
Unit 5,
Duleek Business Park,
Duleek,
County Meath.
Tel: 041 9882656
Fax: 041 9882657
Mobile: 087 6818334
Email: [email protected]
Web: instaspace.ie
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, January 2022, Vol 8 No 1
