Leading the modular movement: How Portakabin is reinventing how we think about physical space
As the first significant modular building provider in the UK, Portakabin is a true innovator in its field, providing flexible, configurable spaces. These range from its well-known construction site offices and portable toilet blocks to health facilities, educational classrooms, and even transitional housing. Working with both public and private sector clients, modular solutions by Portakabin come with an ‘on time, on budget’ guarantee, and are constructed up to 70 per cent faster than traditional build processes.
Donald Shepheard, who founded the company in 1961, was part of a family construction business, and designed a portable, stackable, and reusable site office, providing flexible spaces on a rental basis for several applications, starting with the construction sector. As its innovative products took the UK by storm, Portakabin started to expand across Europe, and today, the company employs more than 2200 people across ten European countries.
“Construction is our core strength and a crucial early part of our history,” opens Portakabin CEO Dan Ibbetson, “but we now serve a wide range of markets across both the public and private sectors, including health and education on the public side, and everything from manufacturing and data centres to pharmaceuticals and professional sports on the private side. While I’m proud of our heritage, I’m passionate about ensuring the business has a positive impact today, helping to solve some of society’s most pressing challenges by providing flexible spaces.
“The quality and configurability of our buildings mean we’re able to provide space where and when required for the duration of that specific need, and when that need evolves or ends, we can reconfigure the space to meet new demands. Portakabin has mastered this skill over the last 65 years, and the ability to repurpose infrastructure remains very relevant to our society today.”
Ultimate flexibility
As Dan explains, the company’s solutions remain relevant today, particularly as demands for physical space continue to evolve. “The UK typically leans towards an ownership model, but this concept is changing, especially in the private sector,” Dan says. “Rather than ownership being the driving factor, this has shifted to access. Asset sharing models, even in terms of entertainment streaming or vehicle leasing, are becoming much more relevant to the way we live today. When it comes to physical spaces, people are recognising that users’ requirements change over time in line with various factors like social demographics and technological developments.
“For example, an increasing portion of the UK’s permanent hospital infrastructure has become irrelevant or dysfunctional in terms of shape or size, particularly as machine sizes have become smaller and types of patient care have evolved. However, Portakabin offers a solution, providing ultimate flexibility with no compromise on quality, which drives long-term value by enabling clients to evolve the space as technology or demographics change. In educational facilities, on the other hand, the ways in which Portakabin delivers learning resources are changing, but the spaces can provide flexible infrastructure that can evolve as children’s needs or facility resources develop.”
The two sectors referenced above – healthcare and education – are those Portakabin primarily supports in the public sector, with strong working relationships with both the Department for Education (DfE) and NHS Trusts. “On the health side, we deepened our expertise in 2023 via the acquisition of Darwin Group, which is a leading provider of large-scale, modular permanent buildings for healthcare applications,” Dan explains. “Together, we now provide On-Demand health facilities, which aim to address bottlenecks within patient pathways. These temporary fixes alleviate pressure from a specific congested part of the process to ensure people can access the healthcare they need.
“Portakabin works directly with both schools and the DfE, supporting initiatives such as the UK’s School Rebuilding Programme, a ten-year scheme aiming to rebuild or refurbish more than 500 educational facilities across the country, by providing temporary classroom spaces, while new permanent infrastructure is under construction. Brand-new buildings take time, and with the government committed to building new school infrastructure, our solutions have a key role to play in helping people transition between facilities.”
Transitional housing solution
Aside from healthcare and education, Portakabin is now offering a temporary housing solution to offer space to those currently living in poor-quality temporary accommodation. “The UK Government recognises the need for more permanent affordable housing, but in the short-term, there’s incredibly high demand for temporary accommodation,” Dan confirms. “In London, for instance, £5 million is spent every day on temporary accommodation, but most of this is inadequate. The UK’s temporary accommodation typically has poor social outcomes that can span generations and put more pressure on the health and education systems in the long-term.
“We recognise this is a critical issue, and we want both good social outcomes for people using temporary accommodation and more affordable costs for local councils. Over the last 15 months, Portakabin has developed a transitional housing solution that enables families to live in warm, light, and airy spaces with dignity and stability while new permanent housing is built. Like all our units, these buildings have very high thermal efficiency and great acoustic qualities, and we offer a range of options, from studio apartments to three-bedroom apartments with a full kitchen, living space, bathroom, and storage space. Portakabin has a very interoperable fleet with the ability to remodel or repurpose our assets very quickly. Transitional housing units can easily be converted into classrooms, offices, or part of a hospital, for example, at the end of their use as housing.
“While Portakabin has an important role to play in supporting the private sector, we take our social responsibility very seriously and try to find solutions to real social problems,” he states. “We’re working with housing associations and homelessness charities and have a prototype model at our manufacturing headquarters in York, which we use to showcase our concept. We want to be a strategic partner to the UK Government, so we’re working with local and central government in a sustained way to try and incorporate our solutions into the UK’s housing plan.”
Fast and efficient builds
While the benefits of modular construction have long been documented, we’re keen to hear Dan’s thoughts on what makes Portakabin unique, which he splits into three aspects: speed, flexibility, and safety. To highlight this, Dan uses an example of the James Paget Hospital, where Portakabin provided an orthopaedic outpatient unit. “In this case, our aim was to improve the orthopaedic patient pathway,” he explains. “From a speed perspective, we managed to create a bespoke, Permanent-Grade yet hireable building with nine consulting rooms, three plaster rooms, reception areas, and accessible toilets in less than four months.
“In terms of flexibility, like most of our solutions, this space can be reconfigured, downsized, or added to if the client requires. This not only provides financial flexibility, but also tangible space flexibility, as the unit can be modified to address different bottlenecks in patient pathways. Lastly, as most of the work is completed offsite, which was 75 per cent in the case of James Paget Hospital, there are fewer on-site or variability issues. Traditional on-site construction typically means quality varies from site to site, but our units are primarily constructed in a controlled off-site environment and then assembled quickly on-site.
“However, while 80 per cent of what we do is on a rental basis, we also build permanent facilities using our renowned technologies when our customers require,” Dan adds. “A perfect example of this is Bridge Easton School, a special educational needs (SEN) school in Norfolk. Sixty custom modules were built offsite, with delivery and installation of the modules taking only two weeks. It’s a phenomenal facility that the children and staff are delighted with. The site was co-designed with the DfE and there’s lots of innovation in the building, with specialist lighting and ventilation, as well as areas designed to meet the varying needs of the children who use the facility.”
Continuous innovation
As Portakabin approaches its 65th anniversary, it’s clear that the business has continually embraced innovative practices to remain at the forefront of the industry. “I am always amazed by the constant innovation happening across the business, and we’re engaged in several projects with universities to explore the continued innovation of modular buildings,” Dan elaborates. “In partnership with University College London (UCL), for example, we’re working on a research project that aims to better understand how modular buildings interact with the external environment. Portakabin has provided a group of PhD students with a two-storey modular unit, and they’ve installed hundreds of sensors within a hyper-controlled environment to conduct tests and experiments based on many factors, including the impact of different ventilation systems to how humans interact with the space. Portakabin also has a partnership dedicated to monitoring all the devices within a building that consume electricity, which aims to eventually use AI to improve the environment and reduce energy consumption.”
However, Dan is quick to highlight that it’s the people that make Portakabin particularly special. “We’re proud of the spaces we create, and what we do resonates strongly with our employees because of the direct impact it has on people’s lives and the communities in which we live and work,” Dan says. “This has a positive impact on our culture and employee engagement. Portakabin provides great career opportunities, and we’re proud to offer a new career framework that will allow colleagues across the business to evaluate which skills and experiences will be required to move into an alternative role. This is part of our vision for Portakabin to be an attractive place to work for all people, irrespective of work experience, gender, or other social factors, as the more diversity of thought we create across the business, the better.”
Strategic partnerships
With a committed workforce, a growing portfolio of innovative modular solutions, and a passion for social responsibility, especially in the public sector, Portakabin is channelling its previous success into a clear vision for the future. As our conversation ends, Dan shares his thoughts on the company’s strategy moving forward. “We’re always thinking about what’s next, and 2026 is no exception,” he states. “It’s going to be a busy year for us, with lots going on in both the public and private sectors. We’re continuing to develop relationships with private clients in the automotive, defence, and data centre sectors, as well as fostering a more structured relationship with the UK Government.
“There are lots of challenges in the public sector, but we know our solutions can help to address these to drive greater efficiency and for transitional housing specifically, result in better outcomes for people,” Dan concludes. “I’m on a mission to make sure our voice is heard. Portakabin will soon by releasing its 2025 Socio-Economic Report, that details the role we currently play, as well as the stronger role we could play as a strategic partner to the public sector. We want to collaboratively use our expertise to think about the future of the built environment in a multi-dimensional way. Infrastructure is a constantly evolving topic, and we must be open-minded to new processes, methods, and trends to stay ahead of changing demands.”