Same problem, five very different answers
A night-shift track gang and a bank nurse both need somewhere to sleep near work. Almost nothing else about the two requirements is the same. Here is how we brief each one.
Construction
Groundworks, frame, civils and fit-out. Crews of six to twenty, weeks to years, and a programme that moves under you every month.
- Whole houses so the team stays together and self-caters
- Van parking, tool security and a boot room that copes with mud
- Drying facilities — the single most requested feature we source for
- Monday-to-Friday patterns with the property held over the weekend
- Headcount that scales up and down without renegotiating everything
NHS & healthcare
Agency and locum staff, travelling specialists, and trusts covering a rota gap at short notice. Usually individuals rather than crews, and usually needed by Thursday.
- Single occupancy as standard — nobody shares a room
- Walking distance or a short, reliable drive to the trust
- Quiet properties that suit sleeping during the day after nights
- Secure entry and well-lit parking for staff finishing at 4am
- Bookings that can start within 48 hours when a rota falls over
Data centres
Shell and core, MEP install, then commissioning teams who arrive from all over and stay for months. Sites are usually on business parks with very little around them.
- Coverage in the corridors that matter — Slough, west London, the Midlands, Dublin-adjacent routes
- Desk space and business-grade broadband for evening work
- Longer, stable bookings that suit commissioning phases
- Mixed occupancy — apartments for specialists, houses for install crews
- Discreet locations where security requirements apply
Energy
Nuclear new build, offshore wind, grid connections and refinery turnarounds. Headcount can triple for six weeks in a town that has one hotel and a caravan park.
- Sourcing in genuinely remote locations — Somerset, the Highlands, the East Coast
- Surge capacity planned weeks ahead of an outage window
- Shift-pattern check-in, including rotations that land at odd hours
- Blocks of properties in one area so a workforce stays coordinated
- Rapid demobilisation when the outage finishes early
Rail
Renewals, possessions and maintenance. The work happens at night and at weekends, which makes accommodation harder than almost any other sector we handle.
- Properties briefed to expect daytime sleeping and night departures
- Blackout blinds and quieter streets prioritised in shortlists
- Weekend-heavy patterns instead of standard Monday-to-Friday
- Coverage near depots and possession points, not just city centres
- Short-notice changes when a possession moves or gets cancelled
If it is a team away from home, ask us
Film and TV crews, festivals and events, insurance and disaster recovery, seasonal agriculture, defence contracts. The logistics are the same shape and so is the answer.