Porta cabin & prefab terms, explained.

ACP cladding is a facade finish made of aluminium composite panels: two thin aluminium sheets bonded to a core, supplied in flat, coloured or metallic finishes. On a porta cabin it is fixed over the insulated wall panels to give a premium, flat facade for client-facing site offices and sales offices. It is a finish, not the insulation.

An Aerocon panel is a sandwich wall panel with a lightweight concrete core between fibre-cement boards. It gives the solid, quiet feel of a masonry wall at a fraction of the weight, resists fire and can be painted or tiled. It is fixed dry on a steel or LGS frame for classrooms, clinics, canteens and site accommodation.

A base frame is the welded steel chassis, usually of ISMC channel sections, that a porta cabin or E-House is built on. It carries the floor and walls, has lifting points so the whole unit can be craned onto a truck and set down on site, and rests on the plinth or pedestals. On an E-House it is often called a skid.

A bunk house is a sleeping cabin for workers, fitted with bunk beds, storage, lights, fans and ventilation. Bunk house cabins are the main building of a labour camp and are usually supplied with toilet and bath blocks, a mess and rest rooms. Built on liftable base frames, they can be moved to the next site when a project closes.

A cargo-worthy container is a used shipping container that has been inspected and found structurally sound and weathertight enough to carry cargo, though it shows dents, scratches and surface rust from service. It suits storage and rugged site uses where appearance matters less, and should be surveyed before it is converted into a cabin.

A cement sandwich panel is a wall panel with a lightweight concrete or cement-bound core between two fibre-cement or calcium silicate boards. It is solid, quiet, fire-resistant and can be painted or tiled, yet is light enough to fix dry on a steel frame. Aerocon is a well-known brand of this type of panel.

A clean room is a room in which airborne dust and particles, and usually temperature and humidity, are kept under control, for pharma, laboratories, food processing and electronics. Its envelope is typically built from PUF sandwich panels with smooth, sealed, easy-to-clean steel faces; the filtered air system is designed to the cleanliness level the process requires.

A cold room is an insulated room kept at a low, steady temperature by a refrigeration unit, used to store food, produce, dairy and pharmaceuticals. It is usually built from thick PUF sandwich panels with tight, sealed joints and hygienic pre-coated steel faces, so the cold stays in and the walls are easy to clean.

A container cabin is a shipping container converted for people: the corten steel shell is cut for doors and windows, insulated on the inside, wired and fitted out as an office, guard room, café, store or home. It keeps the container's fixed 20 ft or 40 ft size and about 2.44 m width, is very tough in transit and stacks easily.

A control pulpit is an enclosed, raised control room beside a process line, such as a rolling mill or furnace in a steel plant, from which operators run the line. It is glazed towards the process, insulated against heat and noise, often air-conditioned and pressurised against dust, and fitted with control desks and cable entries.

A corner casting is the hollow cast-steel block welded at each of the eight corners of a shipping container, with oval and round openings. Twist-locks, crane hooks and lashing gear engage these openings to lift, stack and secure the container, and a container cabin keeps its corner castings so it can be lifted and stacked in the same way.

A crane cabin is the enclosed operator cabin on an EOT, gantry or port crane. It is glazed for clear sightlines down to the load, insulated against heat and noise, fitted with the controls and seat, and mounted to the crane structure. It is one kind of operator cabin.

A CSC plate is the safety approval plate fixed to a shipping container under the International Convention for Safe Containers (CSC). It records details such as the date of manufacture, identification number, maximum gross mass and allowable stacking load, and the examination scheme. A container used for international cargo is expected to carry a valid CSC plate.

An E-House is a factory-built, skid-mounted enclosure that houses electrical equipment such as switchgear, PCC and MCC panels, drives and control panels. It is insulated, weatherproof and engineered around the panel layout, with cable entries, lighting, earthing and HVAC provisions, then delivered as a unit and set on a prepared plinth or pedestal foundation.

An EOT crane cabin is the operator cabin hung beneath the bridge of an electric overhead travelling (EOT) crane in a factory or steel plant. It is glazed, sometimes with a glazed floor panel, for a clear view of the hook, insulated against heat from the process below, and fitted with the seat, controls and AC or ventilation provisions.

An EPS panel is a sandwich panel with an expanded polystyrene foam core between two steel skins. It is light and insulating and is used for porta cabin walls and roofs, though for the same thickness it insulates less well than a PUF panel. EPS is the material often called thermocol in India.

A gate house is the building at the entrance of a plant, site or campus where security staff control entry. It is larger than a single security cabin, often with a guard room, visitor registration counter, waiting area, CCTV desk and an attached toilet. A check-post cabin is a smaller version on a road or boundary crossing.

A GI cabin is a portable cabin whose frame or sheet skins are made of galvanised iron, meaning steel with a zinc coating that protects it from rust. GI resists corrosion better than plain mild steel, which helps on coastal, humid and wet sites. Many porta cabins combine an MS base frame with GI or pre-coated GI panel skins.

A high cube container is a shipping container about 30 cm taller than a standard one: roughly 2.90 m high externally against 2.59 m. The extra height suits bulky cargo and gives a more comfortable ceiling when the container is converted into a cabin, office or home. High cubes are most common in the 40 ft length.

A labour camp is the temporary accommodation built near a project for its workforce. A typical camp combines bunk house cabins, toilet and bath blocks, a mess or kitchen, rest rooms and a gate cabin, laid out with water, drainage and power planned together. Prefabricated camps are sized by headcount and can be moved to the next site.

A labour hutment is a simple temporary dwelling for construction workers on or near a project, traditionally built from tin sheets on a light frame. Hutments are increasingly replaced by insulated prefabricated bunk houses and toilet blocks, which are cooler, safer and easier to keep clean, and which many client HSE teams now expect.

Light gauge steel (LGS) is a structural framing system made from thin, cold-formed galvanised steel sections that are precision-cut and screwed or bolted together. It forms the skeleton of villas, resorts, rooftop extensions and multi-storey buildings, and is closed in with cement board, Aerocon or PUF panels. It is strong for its weight and quick to erect.

A modular building is a building made from factory-built modules that are transported to site and joined side by side or stacked. Each module is largely finished before it leaves the factory, so site work is mostly the foundation, connections and services. Multi-module porta cabin offices and stacked container buildings are common examples.

An MS cabin is a portable cabin built on a mild steel (MS) frame, usually an ISMC channel base with steel posts and roof members, closed in with sheet or insulated sandwich panels. Mild steel is strong and easy to weld; it is primed and painted to protect it from rust, and needs regular paint touch-ups on coastal or wet sites.

A one-trip container is a shipping container that has made a single loaded voyage from the country where it was built and is then sold. It is in near-new condition, with straight panels, sound doors and little rust, so it is the best starting point for a container cabin or home where appearance and long service matter.

An operator cabin is an enclosed workstation that protects the operator of a crane, machine or process line from weather, dust, noise and hazards. It is built around the equipment it serves, with clear glazing for sightlines, thermal and acoustic insulation, AC or ventilation provisions and safety options such as impact-resistant glass and emergency exits.

A package substation is a compact, factory-assembled substation that combines high-voltage switchgear, usually a ring main unit, a distribution transformer and a low-voltage switchboard in one enclosure. It serves housing, commercial and industrial loads where a full substation building is not needed. Larger switchgear and panel rooms are housed in an E-House instead.

A PCC / MCC room is a building that houses a Power Control Centre (PCC), which distributes incoming power, and Motor Control Centres (MCC), which start and protect motors. In plants and substations it is often supplied as a prefabricated E-House built around the panel layout. In foundation drawings, PCC means plain cement concrete instead.

A PIR panel is a sandwich panel with a polyisocyanurate (PIR) foam core between steel skins. PIR is a close relative of the polyurethane foam in a PUF panel, with similar insulation for its thickness, but is formulated to char rather than burn readily, so it generally behaves better in a fire. Buyers specify it where fire performance matters more.

A plinth foundation for a porta cabin is a level concrete base, a set of raised pedestals or a row of block supports placed under the base-frame bearing points. It keeps the cabin level and above the local flood line, lets water drain away underneath and is prepared by the site team before the cabin is delivered and craned into place.

A porta cabin is a portable, prefabricated room built on a steel base frame with insulated wall and roof panels. It is wired, floored and fitted out in a factory, delivered by truck and set on a plinth or pedestals as a ready-to-use office, security cabin, toilet block or living room. The name comes from the British brand Portakabin.

A portable office cabin is a porta cabin fitted out as an office, with desks, storage, lighting, fans, AC points and often a manager's cabin, washroom or pantry. Common sizes are 20 × 10 ft for a single room and 40 × 10 ft for an office with a cabin and washroom; modules can be joined or stacked into larger project offices.

Portakabin is a registered trademark of a British company that makes portable and modular buildings, and the origin of the word porta cabin. In India the spellings porta cabin and portacabin are widely used for any factory-built portable cabin.

PPGI, or pre-painted galvanised iron, is steel sheet that is zinc-coated against rust and then factory-painted in coil form before it is cut and formed. It is the usual skin of PUF, EPS and rockwool sandwich panels and of roof sheeting on porta cabins, giving a smooth, coloured, easy-to-clean face that needs no site painting.

A prefabricated structure is a building whose parts, or whole rooms, are made in a factory and then assembled or set in place on site. Porta cabins, container cabins, Aerocon and PUF panel buildings, LGS structures and E-Houses are all prefabricated structures. Factory building runs in parallel with site preparation, so less work happens on site.

A prefabricated substation is a substation building or enclosure made in a factory instead of in brick and concrete on site. It houses switchgear, control and protection panels, and PCC and MCC panels, and is engineered around the electrical layout with cable entries, ventilation or HVAC and earthing. An E-House is the most common form.

A PUF panel is a sandwich panel with a polyurethane foam (PUF) core between two pre-coated steel skins, typically 40 to 100 mm thick. It insulates very well for its weight, joins by tongue and groove or cam-lock, and has smooth, easy-to-clean faces. PUF panels are used for porta cabins, cold rooms, clean rooms and E-Houses.

A rockwool panel is a sandwich panel with a core of mineral wool spun from molten rock, between two steel skins. The core is non-combustible and absorbs sound, so rockwool panels are chosen for fire walls, plant rooms and noisy areas. They are heavier than PUF panels and insulate less well for the same thickness.

A sales gallery is the building on or near a real estate project where buyers see the plans, models and finishes before the homes are built. A prefabricated sales gallery is built off site, glazed, lit and furnished to the standard of the project, so it can open for launch while construction begins, and can be moved later.

A sandwich panel is a wall or roof panel made of two outer skins bonded to an insulating core, so one panel gives the finish, the stiffness and the insulation. Common cores are PUF, EPS and rockwool between steel skins; Aerocon panels use a lightweight concrete core between fibre-cement boards. Porta cabin walls and roofs are usually sandwich panels.

A security cabin, or watchman room, is a small porta cabin for guards at a gate, check-post or perimeter. A good design puts the desk under a window facing the gate, glass on the sides the guard watches, the door towards the barrier and power ready for CCTV. Larger gate houses add an attached toilet.

A shipping container is a standard corten steel box built for ocean freight, with lockable cargo doors and corner castings for lifting and stacking. The common sizes are 20 ft (about 6.06 × 2.44 × 2.59 m) and 40 ft (about 12.19 × 2.44 × 2.59 m), plus a taller high-cube version. They are used for storage or converted into container cabins.

A toilet block is a building with several WC cubicles, urinals and washbasins, and sometimes bathing cubicles, serving a site workforce, factory shift or labour camp. A prefabricated toilet block is fitted with sanitaryware and internal plumbing in the factory, has separate ladies' and gents' entries, and connects on site to water and a septic tank, soak pit or sewer.

A toilet cabin is a porta cabin fitted with WCs, sanitaryware, plumbing, lighting and exhaust, ready to connect to water and to a septic tank, soak pit or sewer. A single or twin cabin serves a gate or small site; a toilet block has several WCs, urinals and washbasins for a workforce. It is different from a bio toilet or FRP toilet unit, which Bharat Portable Cabin does not supply.

A ton of refrigeration (TR) is the unit used in India to state air-conditioning capacity. One TR is about 3.5 kW of cooling. The tonnage a porta cabin needs depends on its size, insulation, glazing, orientation, occupancy and equipment, so floor-area rules of thumb are only a starting point before a proper heat-load calculation.

A U-value, or thermal transmittance, measures how much heat passes through a wall, roof or window, in watts per square metre for each degree of temperature difference (W/m2K). The lower the U-value, the better the element insulates. Thicker insulation in a sandwich panel lowers its U-value, which reduces the cooling a cabin needs.