Big shed, smaller bills
October 1st 2007

While the trend for larger sheds may be starting to bottom, SBH project manager, Laurie Sice, says the move towards greener, more energy efficient developments is working its way to the top of client agendas. Brendan Coyne reports

SBH has been honing big shed expertise for 25 years – from site location to project completion. To date it has completed projects totalling more than 1.2 million square metres of space, including some of the largest and tallest warehouses in the country. While project manager, Laurie Sice, thinks the trend for larger facilities – ie over 500,000 square foot – is beginning to bottom, he says one trend, that of sustainable and energy saving developments, is here to stay.

Greener sheds Sice says while SBH has always considered energy conservation, the last five years have seen it "roam up the straits" to the top of client agendas, alongside carbon footprint and sustainability over the last couple of years. "Prior to that nobody even asked you about it. Now it's top of the list – clients tend to have an environmental officer who's fairly high up on the board with a tick list that needs meeting." However, he says it is not something SBH has had to swat up on hugely. "Because all we do is specialise in warehousing and distribution, we always aim to offer a competitive edge by looking at ways to reduce running costs. Five years ago customers were very capital cost driven.

Now they still have an eye on cost but they are prepared to pay more if there's a sensible payback." By way of example, Sice points to a recent 500,000 ft2 facility for AS Watson in Dunstable. "All of the aisles there have automatic lighting controls based on the number of workers, their activities and the way they lay out their stock." For example, if a customer has 60 aisles and 10 forklifts, lighting will not be needed in up to 50 aisles at any one time. "We provide the customer with the formula as to how much they will save depending on how many lights are on or off, they give us a view on how many people will be in so many aisles for so long and we produce the figures. And it's often a no brainer." Particularly given that the number one source of energy consumption in any warehouse is lighting, despite more energy efficient fluorescent luminaires. Sice says as a general rule most energy conservation matters in terms of controls and the like with regard to heating and lighting normally have payback period of about 18 months.

Currently, SBH has expertise in areas ranging from surface water pollution control, to sustainable urban drainage systems, storm water/roof water collection and recycling, spray taps, solar thermal energy, roof lights, energy efficient lighting, daylight dimming and and motion detectors, cement replacement foundations, temperature control equipment and refrigerant plant, to outline the core areas. So does the company test the latest energy saving technologies in order to add to that list? "We aim to be at the cutting edge but not the bleeding edge," says Sice. "Most of our projects are fairly large in size, therefore if you use technology that hasn't been fully proven in the real world, and it goes wrong, you're stuffed. So we tend to look at technology that has been used previously.

Often it's something developed on previous projects and improved. But we are approached by people with new solutions and we will always take a look and assess its worth. Although I genuinely don't believe we have any competitors, technology-wise, we do need to be on the ball." SBH is happy to provide fully developed plans, budget and specifications without cost or obligation. For further information, call the number below.

When time is of the essence

While trends in terms of size and technology can change, Sice says one constant is time, or rather the lack of it. "The end date for completion or to go live never changes," he says. "But at the front end, to finalise the client's aspirations together with the legal process, tends to take longer than you'd like, so you always get pinched in terms of delivering on time. Customers nearly always underestimate the amount of time needed up front. They should always add 50 per cent to whatever they think their time frame is." That said, SBH is no stranger to rapid, challenging jobs. By way of example, Sice points to a 400,000 ft2 unit for General Motors in Ellesmere Port around four years ago.

He still has the appointment, start and completion dates emblazoned on his brain.

"They appointed us on 7 April, we started on site on 20 June. We gave them the first 200,000 ft2 fully fitted out on 19 October. The balance of the building on 22 November, the office development block on 23 December and the whole externals and the gatehouse was finished on the 7 January the following year," says Sice. "It was probably one of the fastest fast track projects in the UK for an end user not undertaken by a developer."

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