Name

Darwin Group

Legal name

Darwin Group Ltd

Website

https://darwingroup.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2006

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Modular Healthcare Construction

akta.pro primary industry

Healthcare Facility Construction (Hospitals, Clinics, Labs) (IMAFACAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Modular/Offsite General Contracting & Installation (IMAFAAAK)

Keywords

• Modular healthcare construction
• Offsite NHS facilities
• Modular ward accommodation
• Modular operating theatres
• Prefabricated healthcare buildings

Headquarters

HQ city

Shrewsbury

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. On-Demand Healthcare Facility Hire: Permanent-grade modular healthcare facilities available for hire with flexible terms. No third-party financing required. Facilities can be hired for as long as needed and repurposed, relocated, or removed as requirements evolve. Revenue generated through facility rental contracts with NHS and healthcare providers.
2. Services and Maintenance: Maintenance and service packages for On-Demand Healthcare Facilities including routine servicing and dedicated response teams. Helps minimise downtime and maximise efficiency for customers.
3. Workforce Insourcing: Partnership with Medacs Healthcare provides dedicated, ring-fenced clinical teams that integrate with customer organisations, ensuring facilities remain operational without straining existing operations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

Darwin Group designs, manufactures, and deploys permanent-grade modular healthcare facilities on a hire basis through its On-Demand® platform, targeting NHS trusts and independent healthcare providers. Facilities are built off-site in factory conditions using Modern Methods of Construction and Design for Manufacture and Assembly, and include ultraclean operating theatres, surgical hubs, GP surgeries, ward accommodation, urgent and emergency care units, decant capacity, and staff and administrative spaces. The company also provides workforce insourcing through its Medacs Healthcare partnership and ongoing maintenance services.

Product overview

Darwin Group is the healthcare division of Portakabin and operates the On-Demand® Healthcare Facilities platform—a modular construction system offering permanent-grade, transitional healthcare buildings. The product portfolio centers on the On-Demand® brand and includes Ultraclean Operating Theatres (Twin and Single suites), Primary Care facilities (GP Surgery, Consultation Pod, Multi-Purpose Rooms), Ward Accommodation (24-bed General Ward expandable to 72 beds), Urgent and Emergency Care (SDEC Unit, Ambulance Handover Unit, Patient Discharge Lounge), Decant Capacity for service continuity, and Staff and Administrative Spaces (offices, meeting rooms, welfare spaces, storage). These facilities combine permanent-grade clinical standards with modular flexibility, are built offsite in factory conditions, and can be hired or purchased for varying durations. Supporting services include workforce insourcing via Medacs Healthcare and maintenance packages.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• On-Demand® Ultraclean Operating Theatres Permanent-grade, hireable ultraclean operating theatre facilities available as Twin or Single Theatre Suites, featuring ultraclean ventilation, concrete floors, and HTM 08-01 / HTM 06-01 compliance for orthopaedic, cardiothoracic, and other surgical procedures. Available for NHS trusts and independent healthcare providers.
• On-Demand® GP Surgery Self-contained general practice surgery facility with HBN 00-03 compliant consultation rooms, accessible WC, and flexible configurations for deploying GP services rapidly. Designed for NHS primary care networks and independent providers.
• On-Demand® Consultation Pod Compact consultation facility with a small footprint of 4.9m x 2.7m, operational in as little as a week. Suitable for clinical interviews and vaccination clinics across NHS and independent provider estates.
• On-Demand® Multi-Purpose Rooms Flexible open-plan spaces for office, administration, meeting, education, training, or seasonal vaccination clinics, with accessible WC and kitchenette included. Suited to NHS primary care and community health providers.
• On-Demand® 24-bed General Ward Permanent-grade patient accommodation with 24-bed capacity (expandable to 72 beds), HBN compliant design, and operational capability in as little as 95 days. Targeted at NHS trusts needing additional ward capacity or decant space.
• On-Demand® Same-Day Emergency Care (SDEC) Unit Deployable emergency care facility with dedicated triage room, 2 treatment rooms, and 6 HBN 00-03 compliant beds for assessing and treating urgent emergency patients. Targeted at NHS A&E departments needing additional SDEC capacity.
• On-Demand® Ambulance Handover Unit Dedicated A&E extension facility accommodating up to 14 patients with HBN 00-03 compliant bed bays, designed to minimize handover delays between ambulance and hospital teams. Targeted at NHS A&E departments.
• On-Demand® Patient Discharge Lounge Facility accommodating 25 patients for comfortable discharge awaiting, with dedicated staff base and patient WCs to free up hospital beds and improve patient flow. Targeted at NHS trusts seeking improved patient throughput.
• On-Demand® Decant Capacity Clinical and non-clinical healthcare facilities for service decant during estate issues, refurbishment, or structural risks, enabling continuity of care when existing buildings are unavailable. Targeted at NHS trusts undertaking estate upgrade works.
• On-Demand® Staff and Administrative Spaces Non-clinical modular facilities including offices, meeting rooms, educational spaces, and secure storage solutions for healthcare estates, available as integrated or standalone units. Targeted at NHS trusts and independent healthcare providers.
• On-Demand® Staff Welfare Spaces Staff facilities including break rooms, modular break rooms, staff hubs, and changing rooms designed to give healthcare workforce places to rest, eat, and recharge. Targeted at NHS trusts and independent providers.
• On-Demand® Storage Spaces Modular storage buildings available in various sizes for secure document storage and medical equipment storage, available as bolt-on or standalone configurations. Targeted at NHS trusts and healthcare providers.
• On-Demand® Office and Meeting Rooms Flexible office spaces and meeting rooms in various configurations including open-plan offices, office/meeting combinations, and large open-plan offices, designed to staff requirements. Targeted at NHS trusts and healthcare estates teams.
• Workforce Insourcing Services Clinical workforce insourcing provided through partnership with Medacs Healthcare, supplying dedicated ring-fenced clinical teams to operate On-Demand Healthcare Facilities and integrate with customer organisations. Available to NHS trusts and independent providers.
• Services and Maintenance Maintenance and service packages for On-Demand Healthcare Facilities, ranging from routine servicing to dedicated response teams, helping minimize downtime and maximize efficiency for NHS trusts and independent healthcare customers.

Quantifiable outcome

• 2.5 million patients benefit from Darwin Group healthcare facilities each year (as of 2025)
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• Medacs HealthcareminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for workforce insourcing services. Through this partnership, Darwin Group can provide dedicated, ring-fenced clinical teams that integrate with customer organisations, ensuring On-Demand Healthcare Facilities remain operational without straining existing operations.
• NHS Property ServicesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on Community Diagnostic Centre projects. NHS Property Services owns new buildings delivered by Darwin Group, as demonstrated in the Hinckley CDC project where they own the completed 2,110m2 facility.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Premier Modular: UK modular building manufacturer offering permanent and temporary buildings to healthcare, education, and commercial customers. Overlaps with Darwin Group in healthcare-specific modular delivery but operates a broader, non-healthcare-specialised portfolio.
• Wernick Buildings: UK modular building supplier with a hire fleet serving healthcare, education, and construction-site customers. Overlaps with Darwin Group on modular hire and healthcare estate delivery, though not exclusively focused on permanent-grade clinical facilities.
• Vanguard Healthcare Solutions: UK-based provider of mobile and modular healthcare facilities including operating theatres, endoscopy suites, and ward capacity to the NHS. Directly comparable in product category, NHS customer base, and hire-based commercial model, making it Darwin Group's closest head-to-head competitor.
• McAvoy Group: Off-site modular construction specialist with an established healthcare practice delivering ward, theatre, and clinical facilities to the NHS and Ireland's HSE. Comparable in offsite MMC methodology and healthcare customer base, though with a wider geographic and sector footprint than Darwin Group.
• MTX Contracts: UK off-site construction specialist delivering modular healthcare facilities (theatres, wards, emergency departments) using modern methods of construction. Closely comparable in MMC methodology and NHS target customers, representing a direct competitive threat in tendered healthcare estates work.
• Q-bital Healthcare Solutions: Specialist in modular and mobile healthcare facilities (theatres, endoscopy, decontamination) for the NHS and independent sector. Comparable product mix, NHS-focused go-to-market, and hire/lease commercial model create direct overlap with Darwin Group's On-Demand offering.

Broad incumbents

• Portakabin: Parent company of Darwin Group and the largest modular building manufacturer in the UK with Europe's largest modular fleet. Portakabin provides the manufacturing scale and fleet depth that Darwin Group leverages, and overlaps in non-healthcare modular hire where Darwin Group is not active.
• Algeco UK: Major UK and European modular space provider serving construction, education, and public-sector customers. Competes with Darwin Group/Portakabin in modular hire broadly, though Algeco's healthcare-specific clinical-grade capability is less developed than Darwin Group's On-Demand range.
• ATCO Structures & Logistics: Global provider of modular space solutions including workforce housing, schools, and healthcare facilities. Comparable in modular manufacturing scale and hire-based delivery, but operates at a much broader geographic and sector scope than Darwin Group.

Regional players

• Losberger De Boer: European modular buildings provider with healthcare and event-space solutions across continental Europe. Comparable in modular hire methodology but does not primarily serve the UK NHS market, making it a regional rather than direct peer to Darwin Group.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/darwingroup_ltd
• Facebookfacebook.com/DarwinGroupLtd
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/darwingroupltd
• Instagraminstagram.com/darwingroupltd/?hl=en

Compliance9 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Darwin Group