Instant results with demountable, reusable buildings

A family business with roots in the event business, Neptune has built a solid foundation in the world of demountable buildings over the past few decades. "We actually have little competition when it comes to volume construction in temporary housing. Circularity is our starting point, all our building materials are reusable," says Neptunus Structures director Dorrie Eilers.

At a time of scarce building sites and staff shortages, it is not always possible to build traditional 'permanent' buildings, even though the need for the accommodation is there. Eilers: "Think of a new housing development where there is a need for a temporary supermarket or temporary sports hall to bridge new construction. Chances are that someone reading this has already been to a temporary building built by Neptune in a matter of weeks."

'In your own strength'

The no-nonsense mentality provides outcomes for the demands of our time, says Eilers. "We have three hundred employees, from R&D, production and logistics to construction, which allows us to move quickly. In addition, we have a huge stock of building materials to realize the customer's wish in no time. This allows us to function on our own. We also do not speak of temporary construction, but of demountable construction, because we work entirely with dry joints and reusable materials."

Neptunus recently completed a demountable building with four teaching rooms for TU Delft, consisting almost entirely of reusable, circular materials. The storey floor was previously used during the London Olympics and the sustainable building (MPG 0.56) features solar panels, heat pumps and refurbished furniture. 'Flux' is expected to remain in use for 10 years and can be rebuilt elsewhere. "Other parties in modular construction often work with complete units that are prefabricated, in our line of business we are therefore unique."

Building concepts

The building concepts Evolution and Flexolution are among the most innovative demountable structures. "Both buildings can remain standing for up to 20 years. Thanks to an ingenious building system, in which the spaceframe roof structure is hydraulically constructed, the Evolution is built in no time, and suitable for both short-term and long-term use, rental or purchase." The Flexolution concept goes one step further. "Flexolution III complies with the Building Code, is optimally insulated and can be realized in just a few weeks with a maximum free span of thirty meters."

Longitudinally, it can be extended indefinitely in six-meter increments; compartmentalization is done with flexible walls. The main structure consists of aluminum columns and laminated wooden beams. The floor is constructed with steel girders and insulated wooden floor panels; walls and roof consist of insulated sandwich panels. The structure is erected as a lego system with bolted connections, without sawing or drilling operations. This allows all parts to be reused after disassembly.

'Instant result'

Flexolution III can be set up as a fixed building, with plumbing, kitchen units, interior finishing, lighting, heating, climate system, (sports) floor finishing, automatic doors and roller gates. "This makes this system ideally suited for rapidly realizable volume construction. We do rewarding work because our facilities produce immediate results. The user is able to function better and often has a higher turnover, thanks to demountable buildings that are fully realized to their requirements for the period of use, and are reusable afterwards."