Why factory builder Heembouw doesn't want its own factory

With industrial construction, the speed of construction can be increased tremendously, and that is important in the construction challenge. At the same time, the emphasis is on inner-city construction, while this often requires customization. Heembouw Wonen combines inner-city and factory construction, and is therefore better off without its own factory, says director Gerard Bac.

'The future of building lies largely in industrialization,' says Gerard Bac, director of Heembouw Wonen. There is a need to scale up and speed up, and that can only be done with factory construction. But that absolute speed, that is not Heembouw's strength. 'We build mostly within cities, and that requires customization and densification. That is a complex task, especially in the Netherlands procedural country.'

With inner-city projects, you always look for the balance, Bac says. Prefabrication in the factory gives less risk, less failure costs, grip on processes and quality. Moreover, it gives affordability. But it also requires standardization. The only question with that is: how big do you make the element you standardize, and that doesn't have to be the whole house, according to Bac. 'That's what we call legolization. You establish standard lego bricks, with which you can then make a whole in different ways. But what is your lego brick? Is that the whole house, or is it a facade element, or even the facade consists of a number of modules? With us, that lego size can vary from project to project.'

Variety with Lego bricks

With commercial premises, for example, it's about the shell and facade panels. Gerard Bac points around to the Heembouw building in Berkel en Rodenrijs where we meet. It is largely constructed from biobased and recycled components. 'Here you can see quickly enough what the lego bricks are. But at apartments or ground-level houses it's different again. That way we can provide customization.'

This can be done by very carefully determining what in a project the Lego bricks, and thus the modules, are and then varying them. Heembouw can do that because the construction company has its own architectural firm, Bac points out. 'It employs 35 designers, modelers, architects, and that allows us to be very close to the client's needs.'

Cooperation in compartmentalized industry

Heembouw is the only one doing it this way, Bac says. 'In many industries the design and realization lie with the same party, think of the electronics industry or the automotive industry, for example. But construction is a very compartmentalized industry. Everyone is on their own little island and as a result the end goal is not always kept in mind: a pleasant living environment for the ultimate clients. We do try to do that from beginning to end. We can do that because we control everything ourselves.'

The latter, incidentally, applies to a lesser extent to installation. 'We did consider doing that ourselves as well, but we didn't. Now we choose partners with a lot of know-how. And very important: with an open mind for how things can be done differently. We have that ourselves and we expect the same from our partners. Curiosity is one of our core values and it is in the capillaries of our company. This is certainly not a trick. We also always ask our clients, whether they feel it back in the home. How do you experience the property? That's partly about installation, because installation is precisely what comfort is about.'

Confidence through course keeping

Getting those various parties to work together in such a way as to create a good end product requires integration in that compartmentalized construction and installation sector, Bac argues. 'That requires trust,' he continues. 'That everyone shares in profits and losses. That means permanent partners who have a high degree of ownership. You have to introduce a common goal, which you can't let go of if things get tough. In that, you always have to think about the long term.' For Heembouw, this is possible because it is a family business. 'The Van Berkel family is still very involved in the course of the company, especially in the long term. This allows us to stay the course when things get tough. We don't have to keep anonymous shareholders happy.'

Innovation at the intersection of disciplines

What the goal of the collaborating partners is differs for each collaboration, Bac points out. "That has to do with legolization. Which legolization do you work on as a partner, and with whom do you work on it. Of course, it all starts at the front end, with agreements with the customer. What conditions are there, what wishes, the Wkb is of course a factor in that. On that basis, we determine what the lego blocks are and which partners we involve.'

In this way, industrial building is bringing the compartmentalized sector back together. Instead of building a house, after which the installer starts thinking about where to drill holes for pipes and drains, the parties sit down together to come up with the best possible modules. 'Innovation is about sitting at the intersection of different disciplines and pushing each other to go to the extreme. You have to look at what others are doing to match that. That produces innovation.'

Customer demand

As a builder, Heembouw also seeks out those issues, Bac says. Their concept home Slimm demonstrates that. 'With a product like this, you always have to answer the question: what is it an answer to? We had to do that too. Our concept is an answer to densification in the city. In a project in The Hague, for example, 225 homes are being demolished and 275 built back. It is also an answer to the growth of single-person households. Only it's not that we look for locations where we can put our houses and then sell as many as possible. We look to see if it fits and if it fits the customer's demand. That's also why we don't have our own factory.'

This article was created in collaboration with Ubbink.