by Shane Henson — December 10, 2012—Skanska, a multinational construction and development company based in Sweden, will soon begin work on what it says will be the tallest modular building in the United States as well as Skanska’s first modular residential building in the nation.
The building, designed as a residence tower, will be located at the Atlantic Yards Project in Brooklyn, New York and will be called the Atlantic Yards B2 Modular. Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC) awarded Skanska a contract worth $117 million to construct the building. As part of the contract, Skanska will subcontract approximately $56 million to a company it created with FCRC, called FC+Skanska Modular LLC.
The new company will fabricate an estimated 930 modular components of the building in a 14,000-square-meter factory located in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Given much of the work will take place off-site, there will be significant reduction in truck traffic, noise and dust in the community surrounding the project site, says Skanska. It is also estimated that modular construction will result in 70 to 90 percent less waste than traditional construction.
Once assembled, the modular units will be trucked to the construction site, where they will be raised by cranes, stacked on each other, and attached to the building’s steel frame.
Once completed, the building will be 32 stories high and measure about 98 meters. B2 will have 363 residential units, 50 percent (181) of which will be low, moderate and middle-income homes. The remaining 50 percent (182) will be market rate. The units will be evenly divided throughout the building and all will have the same quality appliances and access to the same public spaces, including a fitness center, bike storage, a resident lounge, game room, yoga/dance studio and roof terrace, says Skanska.
Construction is expected to be completed in 2014.
