Putting up piggeries in the snow

Despite the recent arctic conditions Staffordshire-based ARM Buildings has been able to continue with the majority of their contracts for new piggeries throughout the UK, reports the company. It has recently had to put on extra shifts at its Rugeley headquarters to meet increasing demand — particularly for pig finishing accommodation.

Where baseworks have been completed, the advantages of factory-built prefabricated construction have become apparent since, unlike brickwork, this is not affected by frost.

"Of course, we have had to postpone work on some sites for health and safety reasons or where the delivery lorries simply couldn’t get to the farm but, particularly where the roofs were already on the houses, it was business as usual," commented Andrew Brittain, ARM Buildings’ operations director.

A big advantage is that the construction teams mostly live on site during the contract so do not have to travel, which means work can continue without undue delays in many cases.