Ways COVID-19 Will Change Architecture Including the Use of More Modular Construction
A modular section being lifted into place during the construction of Huoshenshan Hospital. Image via CNN
For years natural and man-made disasters have resulted in the widespread use of relocatable modular buildings to meet short and extended use replacement facility needs. This allows schools, government agencies, healthcare providers and commercial businesses to open and get back to operating quickly without significant delays. A case in point was an entire middle and high school campus that Ramtech built for West ISD after the massive fertilizer plant explosion destroyed two of the district’s schools in April of 2013.
Now, with the current COVID-19 pandemic, modular construction has once again been brought to the forefront, with high profile projects that have helped to provide urgent care medical facilities in China and other hot spots around the globe. However the impact that modular construction has made may be changing attitudes well after the crises eases, as this article from our friends at Architizer.com point out in the ‘8 Ways COVID-19 Will Change Architecture’. It includes a strong argument for an increase in the use of modular construction.
Read about eight of these new approaches including, modular construction, that may have long lasting impacts on the way cities are designed following the COVID-19 outbreak here.
- Published in Modular Building, Modular Construction
Ramtech Wins Best of Show at MBI 2020 World of Modular Convention
Ramtech President Matt Slataper and Wilmot Modular’s Mike and Kevin Wilmot Celebrate MBI Best of Show Relocatable Award at the 2020 World of Modular Conference
Ramtech is proud to announce that we have received our first ever Best of Show Relocatable award at this year’s MBI 2020 World of Modular annual convention and trade show. The Best of Show award was shared with Wilmot Modular Structures of White Marsh, Maryland who brought the project to us as their joint venture partner. The 4,956 square foot design-build project was constructed and installed by Ramtech for a private energy company in Killeen, Texas. The modular building, designed to be relocated or expanded in the future, will serve as a template for future sites across the United States. In addition to Best of Show, the project also garnered an Awards of Distinction in the Relocatable Modular Office Under 10,000 Square Feet category.
Ramtech also received an Awards of Distinction in the Permanent Modular Special Application category for an in-plant breakroom for Martin Marietta. The 1,080 square foot project, located at the company’s Midlothian, Texas cement plant, was constructed using traditional permanent modular construction with atypical ten-foot-wide modules in order to fit within an area surrounded by the extensive piping and rigging of one of the cement plant’s kilns. The project also required a small on-site construction footprint to minimize the impact on Martin Marietta’s existing operations.
More information on Ramtech’s projects, and the other Awards of Distinction winning entries at this year’s conference, can be viewed on the Modular Building Institute’s website using this link.
- Published in Commercial, Modular Building, Modular Construction, Ramtech News
Roland Brown Reelected As Presiding Officer of the Texas Industrialized Building Code Council
In January Ramtech’s Vice President of Engineering Roland Brown was reelected as the Presiding Officer of the Texas Industrialized Building Code Council. Since the council was formed in 1984, Roland is the only representative of the commercial modular industry to ever hold the presiding officer position. He was reelected unanimously by the other ten members on the council, which functions as an advisory board for the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation on issues related to the regulation of the industrialized housing and commercial building industries. Originally appointed to the Council by former Texas Governor Rick Perry in October 2010, Roland was reappointed by Governor Greg Abbott in 2019 to serve another two-year term which will expire on February 1, 2021. In addition to his service on the IBCC, he also serves as the President of the Board Of Directors of the Modular Building Institute, the international nonprofit trade association that represents the commercial modular construction industry. Roland is also a member of the International Code Council where he has been an advocate for addressing code and compliance issues that affect the modular industry. Roland began his career in the modular building industry in 1981, and since that time he has developed a long track record of creating unique structural designs which have made significant contributions to the technical evolution of the commercial modular industry.
- Published in Commercial, Modular Building, Modular Construction
Ramtech Announces Senior Management Promotions
Ramtech has publicly announced our senior level management promotions that will leverage our current corporate structure to facilitate our growth goals for relocatable modular buildings and permanent modular construction over the next decade. The key management changes include the promotions of Matt Slataper to President, Randy Van Zandt to Vice President of Operations, and Gary Davenport to Vice President of Architecture.
Matt Slataper replaces former President Linc Moss who has elected to step back and assume an advisory role as Chief Operating Officer as he transitions into retirement at the end of 2020. Matt came to Ramtech in 2018 from the financial services industry where he worked in investment banking for several years. As President of Ramtech he will oversee marketing, business strategy and development, project estimating, and all of our banking and financial relationships.
As a 20-year veteran of Ramtech who has served in several key senior project management positions, Randy Van Zandt has now moved to Vice President of Operations. In this capacity he will continue to lead Ramtech’s day-to-day site construction efforts while adding the management of engineering and the oversight of Ramtech’s modular manufacturing operations to his responsibilities.
Gary Davenport, our in-house architect will assume the role of VP of Architecture. Gary will work together with Roland Brown in leading the company’s internal design department, while also focusing in a business development role with Ramtech’s sales and marketing efforts.
- Published in Modular Building, Modular Construction, Ramtech News
Cleveland ISD Adds Additional Ramtech Modular Classroom Buildings to Meet a Surging Enrollment
Ramtech Eight Classroom Modular Building Under Construction for Cleveland ISD
Ramtech has recently received another order from Cleveland Independent School District for an additional two eight-classroom relocatable modular buildings for its Cleveland Middle School campus. This will bring the total number of Ramtech’s standard portable and multiple classroom wings installed this year at the district’s elementary, middle, and high school campuses to seven buildings. We will complete the manufacturing of the two new facilities this week, and expect to complete the installation phase by the middle of October. As with the previous facilities, the modular school buildings will utilize R-Panel metal siding for the exteriors, with vinyl covered gypsum walls and vinyl composition tile flooring in the interiors. (more…)
- Published in Education, Modular Building