Main Advantages of Modular and Mobile Offices and Housing

From office spaces to living quarters, buildings need to be adapted to the specific circumstances in each mining location, as well as to the operational requirements, which many times involve them having to be relocated. One of the main advantages of modular and mobile units is the assembly time. “Due to the mobile characteristics, and according to the selected product, the assembly process takes 70% to 80% less time than traditional construction,” says Eduardo Zarza Fierro, Mining Manager of Espaciomovil, a Mexican company with over 10 years of experience in modular and prefabricated units. “For example, a five office building with two washrooms, which with traditional construction would take four months to build, can be assembled and delivered in one week.” Reduced assembly time also translates to cost reductions for mining companies and their suppliers.

Espaciomovil’s aim is to construct professional and comfortable working and living environments. The company also offers assembly services to its clients, to avoid further distractions and concerns for the mine personnel. However, bringing the product to a remote mining site might prove to be the biggest challenge. “Espaciomovil has the capability and infrastructure to transport the required materials and develop spacious working and housing complexes in short periods of time,” Zarza Fierro says. Because it manufacturers all of its own products, Espaciomovil is able to innovate on every project. The mobile office is its flagship product on which most projects are based, but its catalog also includes modular buildings, mobile washrooms, and prefabricated storage facilities, among other designs. If a client is interested in a certain product but has specific requirements that it does not fulfill, Espaciomovil works to accommodate the client’s needs. The development and engineering team will redesign it based on the client’s requests, and then it will be manufactured. “We are ready to help with the design, fabrication and delivery of our clients’ projects,” he says.

According to Zarza Fierro, Espaciomovil is not strictly in direct competition with the construction industry, because the construction sector focuses on infrastructure development, such as access roads, mills, and other machinery. He even considers them natural allies since Espaciomovil got into the mining industry thanks to companies that provided construction services to the industry and themselves required offices on the mining site. “Our company identified the business opportunity and underwent a process of applying and adapting our products in order to satisfy the sector’s requirements and develop new technologies, all under the prefabrication concept. The solutions we came up with make it easy for mining companies to relocate the units for temporary jobs or other more permanent activities,” he adds. “At the end of the project the structure is removed and the only thing that remains is the concrete foundation on which it was assembled,” explains Zarza Fierro. With clients such as Goldcorp, Silver Standard, Yamana Gold, Cominvi, Compañía Minera Cuzcatlán, and Atlas Copco, and with projects in Sonora and Oaxaca, Espaciomovil is focusing its commercial and engineering efforts on consolidating its position in the mining industry. “We search for continuous development of products that complement each other, so that we can offer integral solutions. Espaciomovil is looking to become a very interesting tool for the mining sector,” Zarza Fierro says. The company is focused on market growth in the mining industry, not only in Mexico but more widely in Latin America as well. Currently it has offices in the US, Costa Rica, Panama and Peru. “The types of projects we develop have naturally led us to these markets and our offices in these countries allow us to be more competitive, while at the same time offering new and better solutions.”