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How modular’s ‘circle of life’ is building a more sustainable future for construction

By Integra Buildings Limited in Industry News

In case you missed the news, in 2025 we were honoured to receive The King’s Award for Enterprise for Sustainable Development.

It was royal recognition for years of investment, in both our team and operations, to adopt more sustainable practices and processes.

Modular is, inherently, more sustainable than traditional methods of construction. Reasons for that include reduced disruption and time on site, less heavy machinery and material waste, and a controlled factory environment creating significantly improved quality and efficiency.

At the heart of our approach to all projects is a commitment to circularity – that is the full lifecycle of a building, from design and manufacture, through to delivery, refurbishment and end-of-life.

All of our buildings offer the opportunity to be 100 per cent reusable and relocatable, and we strive to use materials which are easily recyclable wherever possible.


A perfect example of this is our ongoing partnership with Murphy Plant, to care for its existing fleet of staff accommodation units.

As part of this service, we offer a full refurbishment option for units which are being moved from one Murphy site to another. Units are first delivered back to our factory in Paull, East Yorkshire, and assessed for the level of work required.

Sometimes it’s a simple testing of electrics, heating and plumbing. Other times, it’s a full internal strip out and external respray, to meet a client’s specific requirements. Regardless of the work, once completed, buildings appear almost as new as when they were first manufactured.

We can also upgrade units to meet recent regulations such as JCoP (relating to fire safety) or specific energy efficiency requirements.

Our MD, Chris Turner, said: “Our partnership with Murphy delivers wide-reaching environmental and sustainability benefits – from reduced carbon and waste, to increasing the reusability and lifespan of our buildings.

“Refurbishing units supports the expansion of a circular building economy – a principle at the heart of our recent King’s Award success – and adds at least a decade of lifespan to each building.”

In a successful 2025 for Integra, we were also crowned Offsite Pioneer of the Year at the Offsite Awards – our industry’s Oscars.

The award highlighted the fact that 96 per cent of our building materials are sustainably sourced, with a waste reduction programme cutting waste to landfill from 70 per cent to just 1.2 per cent in three years.

We’ve also secured certification for ISO 19650 for BIM (Building Information Modelling), underlining our commitment to digitalisation and highlighting how working even more closely with our partners and suppliers can further reduce the environmental impact of our buildings.

Our work with Murphy encapsulates the principles of modular as a more sustainable form of construction. However, our commitment to sustainability and environmental excellence spans beyond this partnership.

For flexibility and sustainability, consider hire

At Integra, we offer a building hire service which provides clients with even greater flexibility and a temporary solution for their specific needs.

Our hire fleet is particularly effective on construction sites, such as on highways, where a welfare accommodation building may only be required for a set period of time.

We also find our hire fleet is popular with schools, which may be looking for a shorter-term solution to meet an increase in pupil capacity, while planning for a permanent building.

Buildings are often hired for a 12-month period, but this is flexible, and we’re very happy to discuss a client’s specific needs and requirements.

Building hire makes an important contribution to our work around sustainability. It supports the reusability of our buildings, and the broader construction industry’s move to a more circular economy.