Pickerings featured in Building Design & Construction magazine

Pickeirngs recently featured in the "Building Design & Construction" magazine April 2026 issue.

"Portable & Modular buildings that break the mould"

A highly driven and ambitious organisation, Pickerings has been making significant progress in advancing the design and build of portable and modular buildings not just in terms of cost and efficiency, but also in raising the core specification and market expectations.

Dating its origins back to 1969, Pickerings is currently one of the UK’s leading privately owned specialists in portable and modular buildings. Headquartered in Derbyshire, the firm currently operates across 12 different locations dotted around the UK, delivering portable and modular buildings for hire, sale, or lease purchase into sites across the width and breadth of the the country. And yet, while the company is one of, if not the, de-facto supplier of such buildings today, the history of Pickerings is actually quite diverse in nature.

As aforementioned, Pickerings was indeed founded in 1969, but not as a portable and modular buildings specialist, but instead as a reputable plant hire company in the Derbyshire region. Quickly garnering a reputation for excellence, the firm was later acquired by the Bloor Group and established a new, specialist division to meet the rising demand for site accommodation alongside the traditional plant hire offering; and from this point onwards, Pickerings blossomed in that market, shifting entirely from plant hire to accommodation solutions, and eventually into modular building construction in line with the growing demand from the market.

The rest is, as you would say, history. As of 2026, Pickerings is now considered to be at the forefront of the portable and modular building sector, serving the healthcare, education, construction, industrial, and commercial markets with innovative portable and modular structures. Moreover, the organisation is also considered something of a trend-setter in the future design and build of such structures, effectively pushing the boundaries of quality and craftsmanship far above and beyond the standards historically seen in the industry.

As to how Pickerings is able to deliver such a high standard, the answer is thankfully quite simple. Recognising the need for extensive quality controls and assurances within such an evolving market, Pickerings has invested considerably over the years to develop in-house capabilities spanning just about every element of the project process for such structures. Coupled with a determined attitude to achieve excellence, this has all coalesced into the firm being recognised as a supplier of choice, particularly for the education sector where Pickerings has been prolific in deploying compliant modular classrooms, offices, and facilities.

Offering further insight into the company, Jonathan Mussen, Head of UK Sales at Pickerings said: “We offer a full turnkey package and on any project we do, we can provide every element of that requirement for them, all the way from the groundworks solution and planning permission, along with all the additional features and benefits. But we also understand it’s never just a box or a space that you require, but also the features and additional parts that make it habitable and comfortable.

“I’ve always had this saying that people spend more time awake in our buildings than they do in their own houses, but there’s also been this culture shift of workers spending more time on-site. That’s not just the construction base but also the designers and office workers, so the needs and requirements have changed quite dramatically over the last 15-20 years. The days of cold, shaky, leaky, and poorly lit spaces doesn’t wash any more, and we need quality finishes acceptable for the modern workspace, which is exactly what we’re doing.”

Furthermore, Pickerings is also registered with CCS, underpinning the firm’s commitment to high standards even further – this time, in the context of safety, sustainability, and local community initiatives. Using the scheme as something of a springboard for ideas and a metric through which projects can be judged, Jonathan explained how CCS keeps the team thinking, asking questions, and ultimately allows the firm to keep a tab on the future of the face of construction. The scheme has also supported the firm in staying compliant, with safety taken incredibly seriously across the business both in terms of site safety and mental well-being.

Concerning the business’s future ambitions, Pickerings is an incredibly fast growing business already, with no sight of that slowing down any time soon. That said, as an organisation that prides itself in a high standard of service, we do expect such growth to be tempered by a drive to expand sustainably while acquiring the necessary talent to propel the business forward for the years to come. We’ll report further on this growth trajectory as and when we learn more but, certainly for the time being, the future looks bright for Pickerings.

Article can be found here on pages 128 - 132.