Pioneering sustainable, neurodiverse-ready site cabins

The Challenge

Site cabin design has not changed for many years. Cabins tend to be functional but not very innovative in terms of user experience or their impact on the environment. There is significant scope to make improvements, especially when it comes to catering for diverse workforces, as they mainly come with standard features and fittings.

The brilliant idea for developing neurodiverse focused cabins came from a project manager within Balfour Beatty who personally finds workspaces sometimes challenging due to having autism and ADHD. From this came the vision for inclusive cabins catered for workforces from all backgrounds that was sustainable and worked towards a greener future too.

The Solution

Our cabin design specialists spent time with Autism Unravelled who are neurodiversity experts and working in partnership with Balfour Beatty we created the new, innovative cabins - EcoSense. We spent 18 months ensuring the new design effectively catered for those with neurodiverse conditions, as well as bringing a 30% saving in carbon emissions due to factored in environmental design.

21 months after the project began, we were thrilled to launch EcoSense in December 2021. The new, sustainable site cabin design is packed full of integrated disability and neurodiverse features, with us adapting many of the standard kit including

• Changing the interior colour scheme from white to a pastel tone
• Creating wider corridors for wheelchair users
• Adding coloured plug sockets and switches to assist the visually impaired
• Fitting tri-coloured LED lighting, with dimmer switches for those who are hyper-sensitive to bright light
• Adding quieter radiators to reduce noise from the on and off clicks
• Installing wallboards to help block out external sounds
• Adding occupier activated extractor fan sensors to save energy
• Installing lower kilowatt heaters with built in, self-regulating digital thermostats to reduce heating usage

The Result

In an industry first, we have made it business as usual to be able to order a neuro-diverse cabin from us for any site. This is a significant step within our industry to be more inclusive and attract talented individuals from across all backgrounds.

So far, we have supplied the innovative cabins across several key project sites, with any new site set ups from 2022 committed to using EcoSense. This has meant by September 2022 we have installed 327 EcoSense cabins since the successful trial ended in December 2021.

Furthermore, EcoSense also reduces site emissions by up to 30%, with Balfour Beatty expecting the use of the site cabin design to cut at least 1,400 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions from its site cabin portfolio each year.

Autism Unravelled said “Many businesses are failing to accommodate an increasingly diverse workforce, despite the benefits neurodiversity conditions, such as ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, and autism, can bring. It is fantastic to see the commitment from both Balfour Beatty and Sunbelt Rentals in creating a leading neurodiversity initiative.”

Ian Needham, Director of Accommodation at Sunbelt Rentals said “We are committed to advancing technology for a lower carbon future and making our industry as inclusive as possible. Not only is the cabin design more energy efficient, but it can be powered by low or zero carbon power sources as the norm. In addition, the disability and neurodiverse elements will help to give everyone equal opportunities when working on site.”