Pre-fab firm sprouts as its market changes

A LANARKSHIRE manufacturer of prefabricated buildings is planning a £100 million global assault after signing up a string of licensees.

Powerwall, which runs a ten-acre production site in Wishaw and employs about 80 staff, said it was seeing "significant interest" in its building technology from across the world. The firms's fabricated structural frames, reaching up to 22 storeys, can be used in housing developments, schools and hotels and are said to offer major time and cost savings over traditional building techniques.

Focus has been on the domestic market but the company is planning a major UK and international expansion.

It has signed up five partners who will be able to use Powerwall's patented "volumetric" building system on either side of the Irish border, in the south-east of England, Saudi Arabia and Qatar and is currently eyeing other areas of the Middle East, mainland Europe and North America.

Joe Pacitti, who was brought in to head up the licensee division ten months ago, said there was the potential to sign up 100 partners within the next ten years, providing the Scots firm with a global footprint.

There would be manufacturing in each local market, with Powerwall pocketing an up- front licence fee.

Pacitti said the major revenue would come from a royalty payment for every square metre of module constructed.

"Over the next five to ten years, we could be looking at 50m to 100m of business," he said. "We get an initial licence fee but the key is the royalty for every square metre or foot.

"In Canada, for example, we could have three licensees and between six and ten in the US. I reckon that for every 12-15 million of population there could be a manufacturing plant without encroaching on other operators.

"We could be looking at 100 licensees in ten years, but that could come earlier as we build up a head of steam. As it is based on a royalty system, we are looking at a recurring revenue stream."

The company, which turns over some 15m, began developing its modular building technology about 20 years ago but admits to having faced a "very conservative" construction sector at the time, with limited uptake.

Having "quietly worked away in the background" on more conventional areas such as rendering, the firm has recently benfited from market changes.

An increasing number of developers, housebuilders and architects are opting for structures that are fabricated off-site and under cover before being trucked in and assembled on location.