This project was undertaken whilst Below280 was a department of Decerna, prior to the 2026 spin out.
| CLIENT | PRODUCT | COMPLETED | STANDARD |
| MEFAB Limited | MFP.01 Prototype Unit | February 2026 | ISO14040/44 |
The construction industry accounts for a significant share of global carbon emissions; thus, for Net Zero, it is imperative that new low-carbon building methods are developed. MEFAB Limited, a modular building manufacturer based in Middlesbrough, commissioned Decerna to change that for their flagship unit, producing the first full Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the MFP.01 Prototype.
The Challenge
MEFAB specialise in self-powered, off-grid modular accommodation for the leisure and hospitality sectors, manufactured to be low carbon from day one. Their units arrive at site as complete modules, avoiding concrete foundations entirely through a screw pile system, and operate completely off grid through integrated photovoltaic panels and battery storage.
However, environmental claims without verified numbers are an increasing liability, both with clients and soon with construction regulators. In this ever more environmentally conscious sector, MEFAB aimed to both identify where their environmental performance was strong and, critically, where the real hotspots lay at this stage of prototype design.
As part of the Tees Valley Net Zero Project, Below280 delivered a full ISO 14040/44 compliant LCA for the MFP.01 Prototype unit, scaled across three product configurations: the single-unit MONDA Kip, the two-unit MOZOTA, and the three-unit MARANA.
Our Approach
The study followed a cradle-to-gate boundary: from raw material extraction through to complete on-site reassembly. This covered 15 discrete manufacturing stages using primary data supplied by MEFAB and upstream data from the Ecoinvent 3.11 database.
Modelled using openLCA 2.5 with the ReCiPe 2016 Midpoint (H) impact assessment method, this LCA covered 18 distinct environmental impact categories, including climate change, ecotoxicity, human toxicity, land use, and material resource depletion.
What the Data Revealed
The assessment identified a moderately concentrated impact distribution across the manufacturing process, with a small number of stages accounting for a high share of the total climate change burden. Factory-based manufacturing dominated the environmental profile throughout, whilst on-site activities contributed minimally. This is a direct consequence of MEFAB’s modular approach and zero-concrete foundation system.
Across the impact categories assessed, climate change and human toxicity emerged as the dominant areas of concern, driven primarily by the energy-intensive upstream production of structural metals, glazing systems, and integrated energy components. Land use and material resource depletion also registered as significant, whilst ozone depletion and water use were effectively negligible, confirming modern production methods throughout the supply chain.
Recommendations
The concentrated nature of the impact distribution is strategically useful: rather than facing dozens of marginal improvements, MEFAB has a small number of clear priorities that collectively address of the product’s climate impact.
As with many construction LCAs, the primary opportunity for emissions reduction lies in material sourcing. Structural materials like steel, aluminium and timber tend to dominate environmental impact profiles because of the sheer volume required, dwarfing the contributions of fixings, finishes and other secondary inputs. These materials are non-negotiable in delivering a structurally sound, thermally efficient building, but that does not mean the current specification is fixed. As for most construction products, exploring recycled content alternatives and identifying where material quantities can be reduced without compromising structural or operational performance offers the most direct path to meaningful impact reductions.
The Bigger Picture
This LCA demonstrates something the modular construction sector has long argued but less-so proven: factory-based assembly, zero-concrete foundations, and integrated off-grid systems combine to produce a genuinely different environmental profile from traditional construction. The dry assembly process avoids the concrete mixing, curing, and washing operations that typically burden building sites. This means that the zero-concrete foundation system eliminates a category of impact that generally accounts for a substantial portion of any traditional building’s embodied carbon.
The unit’s off-grid capability also deserves particular attention in the context of life cycle thinking. Photovoltaic panels and battery storage carry an upfront manufacturing burden that clearly presented in the LCA results. But they convert what would be ongoing operational carbon debt (grid electricity consumption over its service life) into a one-time manufacturing cost. A post-construction LCA, including the operational use phase, would be expected to show this trade-off very favourably.
For MEFAB’s clientele, the ability to provide verified environmental data is shifting from competitive advantage to procurement requirement. Planning authorities increasingly request embodied carbon declarations, and the UK Government’s evolving Building Regulations are expected to formalise this. MEFAB now has the numbers to proactively meet that expectation head on.
Written by Helen Brown
About Below280
Below280 began as part of a department within the UK National Renewable Energy Centre, which span off in 2012 to become a separate company, before spinning off again as an LCA focused consultancy in 2026. With over a decade of LCA experience across clinical waste, carbon capture, and Environmental Product Declarations, we apply ISO 14040/44 standards using openLCA to deliver transparent, reproducible assessments.