Zappshelter spans many options
27 July 2022
From its headquarters in rural Perthshire, Zappshelter supplies its innovative temporary site storage structures throughout the UK and to a growing number of overseas markets. Hire companies are amongst its main customers.
The business is a brand of Paragon Protection Systems which was founded in 2015 by managing director Craig Michel, who had previously worked in his family’s construction plastics company. Craig’s sons Jake, Freddie and Calvin are part of the team Zappshelter, which is steadily expanding.
A growing number of hirers and construction firms are choosing the product which essentially comprises a steel framed structure and a very heavy-duty woven co-polymer cover. This typically attaches to the side of the steel containers or welfare units that are so common on construction sites and at workplaces, connecting on the other side to a second container. Sometimes they are mounted on precast concrete walls, or bespoke steel structures.
This converts an otherwise empty area into valuable storage or workspace. Bespoke designs can also be made, although Zappshelter tells me that the standard options meet more than 90 per cent of customer requirements.
“I originally discovered the concept in Australia but it would not have suited the wind and snow loadings commonly encountered in the UK,” Craig told me. “We re-engineered it and sourced the very strong membrane for the covers.
“Basically we launched a product that no-one knew about, to a customer base who didn’t know they needed it! But people quickly realised the benefits.
“One advantage is that planning authorities typically regard a Zappshelter as a temporary structure, requiring no groundworks, but it is tough enough so that in practice it’s as permanent as you need it to be.
“There were three Zappshelters on the Isle of Wight during last winter’s severe storms with 123mph winds and they came through totally unscathed. This is testament to the substantial ongoing investment in structural engineering.
“The system is environmentally friendly and it protects customers’ four Ps: people, products, profits and the planet,” said Craig who, like his colleagues, imaginatively describes himself as a ‘Sheltologist’, reflecting the engineering detail behind the structures.
Zappshelters are available from 6m to 17m wide and in multiples of 6m and 12m lengths. The structures can also be finished in a customer’s colours and logos.
A network of specialist teams install the shelters throughout the UK. Zappshelters have also been built in Florida, Ghana, Croatia, Ivory Coast and Mexico. Continental Europe is seen as a growth target market.
Zappshelter recently trained a team of Royal Engineers to erect a structure at an MoD facility in Cyprus (outside contractors were not allowed on site), and the company has the distinction of having sold two Zappshelters to the mighty Google organisation to create temporary storage at a data centre in Belgium.
Craig and his team are also proud to be an SME (small to medium enterprise) supplier to the HS2 high-speed rail project, who recently commissioned their twenty-fifth Zappshelter.
The growing list of hirers and contractors using the structures includes GAP, Sunbelt Rentals, Nixon Hire, Speedy, Balfour Beatty, Clancy Plant, Mr Plant Hire and Neon Hire, as well as JCB and Caterpillar.
And the team of Sheltologists are constantly finding new applications for Zappshelters. Given the recent record breaking temperatures in the UK, they can be used to create cooler shaded spaces to protect people, animals, livestock and materials, which could be of greater importance as we adapt to climate change.
