in 1966 with the Portablu portable toilet, soon rebranded Portaloo. By 1967 the prefabricated buildings were being used outside of construction, as offices, classrooms, and even operating theatres. Shepherd Group introduced prefabricated, relocatable buildings under the Yorkon brand in 1980. By 1987 they outsold the portable cabins. A heavily insulated Pullman variant earned subsidiary Portakabin Ltd a Queens Award for Technological Achievement in 1992. By 2009 there were two semi-autonomous, manufactured product divisions of Shepherd Group, distinct from the original contracting, and building service division: 'Portakabin' - Portakabin, Allspace, Yorkon, Foremans, Konstructa and Portaloo brands of modular buildings and toilets. 'Portasilo' - Portasilo and Portastor, silo and modular products. They were supported by 75 hire centres. The cabins could be found as far afield as Antarctica and Libya. Disposal of non core businesses The 'Portakabin' division was consistently profitable. By 2015 the others were not, and directors chose to sell or close them. In January 2015, 80 redundancies were announced at Shepherd Group's silo and modular products division. It was closed in 2019, and the Portasilo and Portastor products discontinued. In May 2015, Galliford Try's Linden Homes subsidiary purchased Shepherd Homes, affecting 60 employees. Later in 2015, Wates Group purchased Shepherd Group's mechanical and electrical services and facilities management businesses, and some of the Shepherd Construction contracts, for £9.8 million. It did not acquire Shepherd's loss making Colindale mixed use development, or take over liability for past contracts. Twelve hundred Shepherd Construction staff transferred to Wates Group. Shepherd Group accounts for 2020 show ongoing costs of £29.3 million in that year, and £19.7 million in the prior, arising from Colindale and other legacy construction contracts. Notable construction projects Shepherd Construction was main contractor for buildings including: Controversies Identity behind anonymous emails In July 2021, Shepherd Group subsidiaries asked the High Court of Ireland for a Norwich Pharmacal order to require Google to disclose any identity information it held relating to a gmail address. It had been used to suggest Portakabin products did not comply with Irish building standards; were of poor quality, and that named managers were incompetent and dishonest. The claims were derogatory, damaging and untrue. The Court ordered Google to provide Shepherd Group with the requested information. Hand tool vibration In August 2017, Shepherd Group was served a Health and Safety Executive Improvement Notice because of hand tools causing excessive hand arm vibration at their York site. It