Bituminous roofing as icing on the cake in industrial construction

Fine living

Making affordable housing possible for everyone requires a new way of building: smarter, cheaper, with fewer raw materials and as circular as possible. Fijn Wonen, part of Van Wijnen, is responding to this with a modern housing factory in Heerenveen, where thousands of sustainable, affordable and quality homes are produced every year. For on-site completion, Fijn Wonen is working with established partners such as Winans Dakwerken, which is responsible for installing the roofing on the homes in the northern Netherlands. The collaboration was born from a shared vision of quality, circularity and speed, among other things.

The ball for the collaboration got rolling as early as 2023, when Winans Dakwerken was invited to help think about a standard roofing concept for the Fijn Wonen homes. “Both for the extensions of the ground-level houses and for the roofs of the apartment buildings,” says Peter Dibbets, Operational Manager at Winans Dakwerken. “However, at that time EPDM roofs were chosen, for which we were not competitive enough. Recently, however, we re-emerged on the scene with our bituminous roofing materials, which stand out for their high quality, durability and long service life. Because the roofing is built up detachable, we are also responding to the circular ambition of Fijn Wonen.”

Tight planning, close coordination

In Van Wijnen's robotized housing factory in Heerenveen, as many as twenty homes can be produced per day, Dibbets knows. “Including walls, floors, plumbing, interior and exterior frames as well as installations. Once these homes are delivered to site, we must immediately install our roofing. This requires tight planning and close coordination with Fijn Wonen.” At the base of the roofing is a vapor-blocking PE foil. “On top of this we project a slope insulation, which we compound with PIR insulation. Then we apply an APP bitumen underlayment and APP bitumen top layer, after which it is finished with gravel. This creates a loose-laid system that can be assembled very quickly, at a rate of up to 100 m2 per day.”

Fijn Wonen projects with Winans Dakwerken have now been completed in Sneek, Blijham, Ter Apel, Groningen and Wolvega. Several follow-up projects are also in the pipeline.