Speedspace is often called upon to assist with long-term temporary structures that serve as initial site establishments for larger construction projects where a local presence or site office is necessary for many months or years during the construction phase.
One such project, featured here, involved our parkhome units in the Malawian capital of Lilongwe. Our Zambian subsidiary, Ufudu Zambia, was awarded a contract by B.L. Harbert International, an American construction company based in Alabama that was tasked with building the new US Embassy on a greenfield site in Lilongwe, Malawi.
The new US Embassy campus will provide a secure, sustainable, and resilient platform for advancing US and Malawi shared interests on democratic, accountable governance; fostering economic growth through the private sector; and supporting Malawi’s development primarily through health and education.
With such an important mandate in mind, we are proud that Speedspace’s products have been put to good use in establishing an initial base of operations for B.L. Harbert International to continue the construction of the embassy facility, which is expected to take three years to build. The main contractors on the job will use the structure as offices for both themselves, as well as the US Embassy staff representing the “Overseas Building Operations” division.
In collaboration with B.L. Harbert and the OBO teams, we designed a 1080sqm double-storey structure that provided 360sqm of office space for OBO, 180sqm for the training, and health and safety teams, and 540 sqm on the top floor for B.L. Harbert’s project team.
These kinds of projects are often urgent, with the units required as soon as possible to accommodate the on-site staff. The site work took a total of 7 weeks from start to finish, including the pitched roof and full internal reticulation, and was completed to a standard that exceeded the expectations of the client.
Executing a project of this size, in a country where we don’t have our own offices presented a major challenge from a logistical and planning perspective, and to have executed on time and on budget was a major success for everyone involved in the project.
