On a business park in Hertfordshire a futuristic vision of the world is evolving: a kingdom built from blocks. Robotic cranes whirr overhead on a grid, dropping containers into place. You want a hotel? Easy. Stackable hospital? No problem. Morgue? Done in a jiffy.
The company behind this futuristic patent, filed last year, is better known for selling orange juice and free range chicken: online supermarket Ocado.
Since it was founded by three former Goldman Sachs bankers in 2000, it has been trying to disrupt the grocery world with varying degrees of success. Now it appears to be branching out into modular construction.
Yet Ocado has not really cracked its core business of making money from groceries. Last year it made £12m of profit on