Flexvalley home: Flexible concept now also under NOM Keur, based on local demand

In 2014, housing corporation Woonstede in Ede placed a call for tenders to local parties to develop a low-maintenance concept home. Bouwbedrijf Kreeft won the tender and, with Theo Verburg Architects, developed 41 social housing units for the Mauritskazern site under the name "Flexvalley woning. Director Dirk Jan van den Brink: "Flexvalley woning is a flexible new construction concept that is being further developed based on the call for tenders, since last year also under NOM Keur."

The NOM Keur is a quality mark issued by the Stroomversnelling association for technical building concepts. The 'Zero-to-the-Meter' objective can be achieved by reducing energy demand with insulation and heat recovery, but also by generating the required energy. "Obtaining the NOM Keur for the Flexvalley concept home allowed us to realize a plan with 63 low-rise homes for Gemeentelijk Woningbedrijf Renswoude," says Van den Brink. In fact, it was necessary to add an installation concept to previous variants of the concept. Flexvalley is therefore not a standard house from a catalog. "There are a number of fixed aspects, such as a precast concrete shell that is assembled including glazed window frames. This already makes the basis sustainable, because prefabrication minimizes the number of transport movements to and on the construction site. The concept home was developed based on the TCO idea, founded on sustainable materials and construction methods. For example, the homes feature high-quality plastic window frames, masonry facades with penetrated joints, EPDM roofing and aluminum rainwater drains. The NOM homes in Renswoude are equipped with individual WKO sources, heat pumps and balanced ventilation; remote monitoring is used in maintenance."

Total Cost of Ownership

The NOM Keur for the Flexvalley concept was presented to Bouwbedrijf Kreeft last summer. 'With the NOM Keur, Bouwbedrijf Kreeft underlines that it knows how to put a conceptual and performance-oriented approach into practice, and shows fellow contractors and clients that it does not shy away from maintenance based on performance guarantees. By gaining and sharing knowledge, we want to strengthen our position in the region in the field of new construction and (performance) maintenance," the website says. Van den Brink: "We have built up a clientele in our region and maintain many long-term relationships in our working area. We are happy to expand these, with a hallmark that guarantees that we can put a flexible and sustainable new construction concept on the market under all circumstances. The Flexvalley home is characterized by the standardization of the construction method while maintaining flexibility. Think of dimensions, type, facade and installations. On the basis of Total Cost of Ownership, we can work with fixed partners, such as the architect, consultants and subcontractors. This appears to work well for us and the commissioning corporations. We believe in the membership of Stroomversnelling, partly because they do good work for the uniformization of demand. Often we still see too diverse a demand, whereas based on the NOM Keur specification we know exactly what we need to do."