Trendsetter to Build Modular Housing for U.S. Army
Posted by fabgram on 23 March 2007
By Kelly Sheehan
March 22, 2007
El Paso, Texas — Fleetwood Enterprises Inc., based in Riverside, Calif., has announced that Trendsetter Homes, its modular housing division, has been selected as a supplier to provide military housing to the U.S. Army at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. Terms of the multi-million dollar contract were not disclosed.
The project is part of the Army’s Military Housing Initiative, an effort to significantly upgrade on-base housing at Ft. Bliss, which encompasses 1.1 million acres. To complete the project, Fleetwood has teamed with another modular building firm, American Building Systems, and additional companies such as Hensel Phelps, prime contractor and owner of the government contract; Benham Cos., an architecture firm; and The Warrior Group, tasked with delivering completed units.
“The benefit of modular construction for this project is the speed of delivery to the site, as well as less clutter on the site and disturbance of base operations,” Douglas Henriquez, director for Trendsetter business development, told MHN.
“Because these apartments will be built off-site, we will significantly decrease the congestion, noise and debris issues associated with conventional site-built construction,” added John H. Riddle, vice president of Trendsetter Homes. “Modular housing construction ensures a remarkably safer job site.”
Eight months ago, Trendsetter Homes began offsite construction of the 470 units at its modular housing facility in Belton, Texas. Trendsetter is building these units to create seven apartment buildings that can house 940 Army personnel. Henriquez said the project should be completed by the end of 2007.
Henriquez explained that Trendsetter builds each unit separately. “The boxes are delivered to the site in numerical order, with nomenclature defined on the units,” he said. “The boxes are craned up onto the site, placed into the foundation built by Hensel Phelps, and are lag-bolted and secured into the site itself. We keep doing this, box by box.”
Trendsetter expects that this initial phase will enable full-time operation of its Belton plant for at least seven consecutive months. The Army is exploring the possibility of hiring Trendsetter to complete additional phases of housing, as well as a number of similar projects at other bases.
Henriquez said Trendsetter got it start with modular building in the 1950’s, to help address housing shortages after World War II. “Although we have taken on some civilian projects, our strongest ties have been with the military, by building homes for the heroes of the military forces.”
