Following last year’s order to Whitwick Engineering of several portable buildings to accommodate its workers at the super-quarry at Glensanda – a remote and isolated Scottish peninsula – Portable Offices has completed a further contract to provide additional toilet blocks and storage facilities.
Glensanda is an immense super-quarry which employs around 200 people and extracts around seven million tonnes of aggregate each year. An entire granite mountain is being crushed and loaded directly on to ocean-going bulk carriers destined for Southern England and Europe.
Operated via the ‘glory hole’ method, whereby granite material is crushed then falls down a 1,000 foot vertical shaft and is then transferred to the processing plant through a mile long tunnel on an underground conveyor belt.
Situated off the coast of Oban, such is the remoteness of Glensanda that there is no road, rail or marked footpath links across the granite mountain, moor or heath. The only practical access is by boat from the shores of Loch Linnhe.
As a result, some of the ‘Project Highlander’ work force remains isolated for weeks at a time with few facilities or entertainment apart from fishing and wildlife. For Portable Offices, the need to provide six new twin sleeper units presented an opportunity to demonstrate how versatile portable accommodation could be with well-insulated cosy rooms with oil-filled radiators capable of keeping the team warm at the frequently chilly, sub-zero temperatures experienced by the island’s temporary residents.
Now, several months down the line, additional toilet and washroom facilities have been installed.
Nick Corden, Project Manager at Whitwick Engineering, commented: “The portable buildings have demonstrated high levels of integrity, withstanding the awful, inclement weather which is often unrelenting rain. For example, we have just experienced 113 consecutive days of rain. They have stood up to everything that’s been thrown at them and have kept the workforce cosy, dry and warm throughout the winter months.”
A new storage unit is part of the latest order. The insulated store room will maintain a constant 26 degree temperature to preserve the integrity of special materials used by Whitwick Engineering as part of their mechanical engineering contract.
Managing Director, Adrian Witty, commented: “Portable accommodation can be fitted into all sorts of places. We have become experts in modular logistics and will go to great lengths to make a contract a success. The high performance and durability of these cabins is vital to the welfare of this workforce and I am delighted that they have proved their worth.”
The Portable Offices team is on hand to service companies’ and organisations’ accommodation needs and aims to provide a speedy, professional, cost-effective, turnkey service.
Visit the website to find out more by visiting www.portableoffices.co.uk or call 0800 169 4288