Made to order

A customer focused approach pays dividends for Spaciotempo, according to md Mark Taylor

Since its acquisition by GL Events, Spaciotempo has become more than a manufacturer of temporary buildings.While this side of the business remains important, the company has now added a bespoke department to manufacture to the customer's requirements.

Mark Taylor, managing director of Spaciotempo, says: "We are very much now driven by what the customer needs. For instance, we built a production facility for Aston Martin. It had introduced a new car in cooperation with Toyota.We built a 17.9m wide building 94m long, with specialist cladding that matched surrounding permanent buildings. It also had specialist doors, and was laid over a production line with car wash, added on to the main building." Increasingly willing to project manage as well as manufacture, Spaciotempo provided a turnkey package for another company.

This included 3,000 sq m of concrete slab for buildings we were putting on top of that.

"Adding subcontractors and project managing has helped us to take on larger more complex projects," explains Taylor.

Alongside these bespoke projects, Spaciotempo has continued to provide standard industrial options. Taylor observes that canopies are popular at present as companies are focusing on health and safety and keen to give employees a dry area in which to load and unload using forklifts and other material handling equipment.

Other key issues include the development of regulations, particularly with a view to heating buildings.

Taylor says: "Due to the need for Part L2A compliance, we have introduced a low cost permanent store building to our range.

There is a little bit more foundation than a standard aluminum building but it does mean it can very easily and cost effectively comply with Part L.We offer this as a turnkey package with doors and windows etc." Spaciotempo has invested in manufacturing over recent years and can make structures in three weeks.

"We also have a spread of specialist subcontractors we know and work with, which gives us confidence that what we deliver meets standards.We are keen on this because there are companies out there that are on the borderline, creating structures that may not be fit for the purpose they have been built for," he adds.