Going Modular With Your Military Tower Project

Working in the modular construction industry, Panel Built has become known for our signature modular building and mezzanine product lines.  With these two prefabricated products, Panel Built delivers storage, space, and security solutions to businesses and organizations all across the United States.  

However, when these two products are combined, they can create a new product to offer training and surveillance solutions for government, military, or JROTC facilities -- Prefabricated Towers! In this post, we will cover the many military training applications our towers have provided and the benefits of building through modular.

Panel Built has had the good fortune to work with the United States military on countless modular projects over our 26 years in operation.  Of those projects, Panel Built has built custom tower systems from Hawaii to Morroco.  As you can imagine, training is a rather large part of military service. Various custom structures and spaces are needed to provide the proper environment, especially as unique or new training programs are developed.   Panel Built's can custom design structures to function as a training tower or as a range tower, observing results downrange. 

Another popular tower type is Panel Built's Training Tower, designed for various specific military exercises.  Rappel, Fast-Rope, sniper, tight-space maneuvering, and more training towers have been custom manufactured and installed through Panel Built.  These projects have been delivered in many different ways. Sometimes we work with military engineers to adapt our system to meet their needs. Other times, we have been tasked with providing a Rappel Tower overseas entirely of our design.  With the tower components shipping across the Atlantic Ocean, absolute precision was required for fabrication and material counts.  Ultimately, after the over 4,000 mile trip across the ocean in three shipping containers, the tower system was successfully delivered to a satisfied customer.

Panel Built has been fortunate enough to become a frequent supplier to the United States military, but some may not know why modular construction is used for these projects.  Modular construction techniques have been in existence for hundreds of years, developed by settlers wanting quality homes in their new colonies. Modular construction is still used today for many of the same reasons. 

For example, most military ranges are going to be located in areas far away from most of the general public as large explosions, gunfire, and loud aircraft could be potentially harmful.  So, like our historical example, many military installations elect for a modular building method because stick-built projects can experience long delays plus expensive labor costs in these areas.  Poor weather conditions and other unexpected delays in construction can cause significant delays and considerable increases in labor costs because of the remote location of the job site.  Because stick built construction requires much longer time spent working at the job site, it is more likely to suffer from these delays. Modular construction offers a more easily controlled construction schedule with an overall shorter time on-site. 

Furthermore, speed and convenience are perhaps the most significant benefit modular provides.  Many military installations run on tight schedules and strict deadlines.  These are great qualities to have, but they are not always achievable with traditional construction.  With our modular methods, most of the tower project is fabricated off-site in our specialized manufacturing facilities.  So, when the components are delivered, they are ready for quick assembly.   This way, the project site can be prepped for construction while the tower is being built.  With these two processes taking place concurrently, modular construction is generally the quicker method. 

Finally, modular construction is highly efficient for large-scale, repeatable projects.  For military installations that require multiple towers, modular building takes advantage of economies of scale to manufacture each structure more efficiently.  Panel Built can work with you to design a tower concept that best fits your application and make it easily repeatable for various projects.  Also, the factory environment of modular construction ensures a level of quality control that is not always found in the field.  Panel Built structures undergoes a final audit before shipping to ensure top-of-the-line quality.