Across the resource and energy sectors, developers have turned to modular composite construction for camps, office complexes, and a wide range of support buildings—recognising its clear advantages over traditional timber solutions. Modular systems engineered by Ark offer superior performance in key areas including durability, minimal maintenance requirements, and resistance to termites and rot. They also deliver enhanced fire safety and thermal insulation. Just as importantly, modular components are designed for rapid, safe, and efficient assembly—making them an ideal choice for remote or time-sensitive projects.
Ark delivered its first LNG camp in PNG in 2010 – a 1,000 person, multi-storey accommodation complex and support buildings assembled by a 99 percent local workforce in less than one year. Fifteen years on, Ark’s camps are established across PNG, with the company’s modular solutions increasingly being adopted by organisations beyond the resource sector.
General Manager, Ark Pacific, Cass Ruka says that Ark has invested heavily in perfecting its product for PNG’s challenging building environment. “We’re an ISO9001 certified company with plenty of other certifications attesting to quality, such as our Australian-compliant fire safety ratings and our internationally rated insulation.” Ark’s innovations in insulation technology enhance indoor comfort while significantly reducing the need for heating and cooling—lowering operational costs and boosting the overall sustainability of its buildings.
Despite timber’s natural beauty, even when treated it is still susceptible to termites and wood rot thrives in the tropics. Timber is also a highly combustible material. Given the safety risks—particularly in large-scale capital investments such as workforce camps that must accommodate hundreds or even thousands of personnel—it’s no surprise that developers are increasingly steering away from timber construction when they can.
Ruka explains that timber buildings also take longer to construct than their modern modular alternatives and also incur higher freight costs. Alternatively, Ark’s products are designed for rapid assembly – even by unskilled labour – and they enjoy a freight footprint of up to 70 percent less than competitors’ products. Six of Ark’s flat pack units are equivalent to a single standard 20 foot shipping container when stacked together ready for transport. This equates to fewer ships, trucks, barges, etcetera when building with Ark.
In addition to increasingly refining its product for PNG’s challenging and often remote construction environment, Ark is investing in a stock facility and additional staff in Lae. Scheduled to open in Q3, the facility will hold up to 20 complete modular units (enough for a large office complex or small camp), as well as ablution blocks and a wide range of spare parts (from nuts and bolts to spare walls).
Ruka reports that customers value the prospect of placing an order and having it on site within a couple of days. “We’ll have everything flat-packed and ready to go at the facility—it’ll simply be a matter of loading it onto a truck. Alternatively, if the client prefers, we can pre-assemble the units in our yard before dispatching them to site.”
