'This project is being watched with interest'

Airtight and insulated prefab wooden facades

Dekker Kozijnprojecten supplies and installs the wooden prefabricated facades for the renovation of the Bouwmeester neighborhood in Almere. The company was involved in the project at an early stage, to help think about the best solution.

Dekker is a regular partner of the project's main contractor, Dura Vermeer Midden-Nederland, explains Piet van den Berg, project coordinator of work preparation and execution at Dekker Kozijnprojecten. "They asked us in 2019 to help think about the best solution for the maintenance needed in this neighborhood. The preliminary process took quite a long time. Basically, it was about frame replacement and facade repair. In the process, the architect involved wanted to maintain the Scandinavian look. There was also a desire to get the homes to a higher energy label." 

Less transportation and man hours

Initially, the plan was to remove the old cladding, install new insulation and then install new cladding. But because many homes are involved, that would require a lot of transport movements and many man hours. Van den Berg: "This would also make the duration much longer than we had envisioned. And so we started thinking about working with prefabricated facades including frames. The demolisher removes the existing cladding and we check the rear construction for wood rot and the status of the foil. Then we install the facade elements. It is quite a large, structural intervention. We worked this out completely with the structural engineer." The new facade elements are finished airtight; all connections are injected with liquid rubber and the existing construction is also finished with this.

Challenge in terms of preparation and logistics

After installation, the façade was truly ready immediately. For a Scandinavian look, the wood was given a green color. In addition, each street has its own color in the recesses and a different type of front door. 

For Dekker Kozijnprojecten, the project is certainly not standard work. "In terms of preparation and logistics, it was quite a challenge. We were very well supported in this by the Bouwburo, who supplied the drawings. Currently we are structurally running with sixteen to eighteen men on the construction site and we are running at quite a pace: we place five elements per day, including the work around them." Van den Berg does see a future in prefabricated construction and making homes more sustainable. "We also notice that it is being looked at with interest from all sides. There are a lot of houses like this in the Netherlands. And because this project is going well, it could soon be applied to many more homes like this
be applied."