HMP Elmley - custodial construction

PCE, appointed by Kier as the superstructure and façade delivery partners for the HMP Elmley expansion, is making significant strides in the assembly phase. This Ministry of Justice project leverages PCE's award-winning HybriDfMA Secure Prison System, previously successful at HMP Five Wells, HMP Millsike, and HMP Fosse Way. The ongoing collaboration between PCE and Kier continues to yield positive results, including the expansion of HMP Bullingdon.

PCE's site team will install over 1,800 components to construct the four-storey T60 houseblock, designed by architects Pick Everard, increasing the prison's capacity by 240 places. The Secure Prison System is a platform-DfMA solution, employing optimised, repeatable offsite-manufactured components assembled onsite through standardised processes. PCE's platform approach emphasises efficiency, speed, quality, and predictability. Using offsite engineered repeatable components, the HybriDfMA system ensures consistency and certainty throughout design, manufacture, and assembly.

By completing much of the process offsite, PCE maximises quality and safety while minimising required site resource and personnel, deliveries, waste, and disruption, such as noise, dust, and traffic. This extends to the offsite coordination and integration of M&E, security, and utility components, including handrails, so that when components arrive to site, they are positioned and primed ready for immediate install. This streamlined approach allows a small crew of 12 installers, finishers, supervisors, and crane drivers to complete each houseblock within a 12-week window, providing a holistic, turnkey assembly solution.

Logistics are critical during installation. Ynomia, a digital asset tracking and information system, provides real-time tracking of every component from factory to final location, enabling just-in-time deliveries and adherence to stringent delivery strategies.

Through PCE's HybriDfMA solution, the installation of HMP Fosse Way's new T60 houseblock embodies repeatable, predictable, and reliable construction, ensuring efficient completion with safety, quality, speed, and value at the forefront.

Road to Rehabilitation

In line with the New Prison Programme's focus on rehabilitation, PCE integrates prisoners into both manufacturing and assembly operations. Workshop 5, a pioneering initiative led by PCE with support from Serco, offers prisoners nearing release the opportunity to learn new skills and prepare for life after incarceration. Participants have so far successfully manufactured precast components now being used across the NPP.