School Swapping Modulars To Save Time And Space

Old school modulars moved to churches and other places in need

Here at the Modular Maven we've been helping public and private schools remove unwanted or unneeded portable classrooms, school modulars and trailers and relocating them to schools and churches that need them. This service has helped hundreds of schools free up space for new construction through removing 24'x 40' or 24'x60' relocatable school modulars from their campuses that were once needed for classrooms, band rooms, science labs and offices. Other schools in need of space have been purchasing these units and paying minimal fees to have them installed, cleaned, tuned up and prepared for students and teachers.

"This service has helped save thousands of dollars in removal fees and gave our school district some great press as we helped a neighboring district with their space requirements," says one Southern California school facility manager. "We have three more portables being removed next week and two schools have placed requests to have them delivered," he added.

Schools should visit www.iModular.com to inquire about this service.

Williams Scotsman Makes Huge Move In Modular Business

What is new in Modular business

Williams Scotsman announced today that it has agreed to be acquired by the parent company of a French modular construction firm in a deal valued at $2.2 billion.

I just received this from the Baltimore Business Journal:

Baltimore-based Williams Scotsman, a modular business (NASDAQ: WLSC), which provides mobile storage containers and modular office structures to the construction industry, is fetching $1.24 billion in cash, or $28.25 per share, in the deal with Ristretto, the Luxembourg-based parent company of Algeco, considered a leader in the European space rental market.

2007 has been a huge year for the modular building industry.

LEED-level Modular Classroom First Of Its Kind During Green Building Boom

Green Modular Classroom better for kids, environment, school budgets

By: Dan Orzech, staff writer - Thursday, June 7, 2007

When school officials need more classroom space in a hurry, the environment may be the last thing on their minds. With the new SmartSpace Classroom – the nation's first environmentally-friendly Modular classroom – schools don't have to sacrifice sustainability to get new classroom space fast. Created by Cliff Cort, President of Triumph SmartSpace of Littleton, Massachusetts, the classroom can be installed in as little as five days.

SmartSpace is loaded with features to reduce energy use – and a school district's utility bills. The modular classroom includes a quiet, two-stage heating and cooling system, which is far more efficient than standard wall units, double-paned low-e windows, and a highly-insulated building envelope. It also features a reflective roof to cut air-conditioning costs, sun-tunnel skylights, and smart lighting sensors, which automatically dim the lights when the sun provides enough natural light, and turns them off when people leave. The result is a building which can deliver up to 50 percent energy savings over normal cost, according to the Harvard, Massachusetts-based Hickory Consortium, a sustainable building consultancy.

Read the full story at iGreenBuild.comby clicking here.

Fix HVAC Systems On Modular Classrooms With Emergency Repair Money Available to California Schools

Emergency Repair Program, funds available for Modular Classrooms

History: In 2000, a group of nearly 100 San Francisco County students filed a class action lawsuit against the State of California and state education agencies, including the California Department of Education (CDE), alleging that these agencies had failed to provide public school students with equal access to qualified teachers, instructional materials, and safe and decent school facilities. The Williams case, Eliezer Williams, et al., vs. State of California, et al., was settled in 2004. The state agreed to allocate millions of dollars to address the problem of securing qualified teachers and providing sufficient instructional materials. In addition, $800 million was set aside for facility improvements as overseen by the Emergency Repair Program (ERP). This means that offers for quality modular classrooms can be submitted.

Fast forward to September 29, 2006:Governor Schwarzenegger signed Assembly Bill 607 (chapter 704, Statutes of 2006) into law, converting the $800 million facilities ERP into a grant program that will allow schools to receive funds before conducting work under the ERP. This groundbreaking statute took effect January 1, 2007, making millions of dollars immediately available to eligible schools for facility repair projects that improve school safety.

HVAC and AB607:
Among the long list of school building repairs eligible for AB607 ERP funds is heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system repair and/or replacement. This has got to be welcome news for California school administrators and school building code officials who place a high level of importance on classroom indoor air quality, comfort and acoustics. School facility managers throughout the state should be relieved to know that they can finally fix or replace those old ineffective HVAC systems at no expense to their district.

Some of the most common HVAC problems California schools encounter were detailed in the "Study on Indoor Air Quality in Portable Classrooms" conducted by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the Department of Health Services (DHS). They found a great number of classrooms, both portable and conventional, that were not being properly ventilated. Some were capable of ventilating but were shut off by the teachers because they were too noisy. Others were also capable of ventilating but had been altered, in an effort to reduce energy use, to prevent any outside air circulating. Still more were identified as simply not capable of ventilating the classroom. All of these problems can lead to unhealthy indoor air quality, inadequate ventilation of classrooms according to CA Title 24 code, and poor classroom acoustics, all of which impair learning and make teaching more difficult.

AB607 ERP funds are readily available and can be applied for with a relatively simple application process can take as little as forty-eight hours from submission to approval by the state.  Compared to other state-funded maintenance programs AB607 ERP is remarkably user friendly. Therefor institutions interested in modular classrooms should have a quick look at the project at hand.

To learn more about AB607 ERP funds, please visit the web site.