Reduce construction costs with a prefabricated shell

Prefabricated structures are the future

A short construction time, higher quality, lower costs, less transportation, less nitrogen emissions and a safer working environment. The advantages of prefabricated hull construction are now widely known to contractors and clients. Not for nothing is this method of construction unprecedentedly popular. Especially against the background of the housing and climate crisis, in which affordable, fast and sustainable construction is key. Smart and economic construction is increasingly being chosen for residential towers and apartment buildings as well as offices, hotels, schools and care centers. Stable Management takes the lead in this by designing smartly, taking into account the impact on costs and construction speed. "Inner-city construction and structural challenges are our specialties."

Stable Management not only designs, but also delivers and assembles. "With decades of experience in precast construction, we can guide the contractor in the design phase to a cost-effective airframe," sums up Silvester Snijders, board member of Stable Management. "Not only do we have a lot of structural knowledge in-house, but we also know the impact of our design choices on costs and construction speed. By thinking outside the existing box, we come up with smart constructions that allow clients to benefit from the very best end result."

Economical construction

"An important precondition for prefab is that everything is well coordinated," said Snijders. "Right from the consultancy and sketch phase, we actively and together with the main stakeholders look for opportunities to make a building more economical. For example, by making the shell as simple and slender as possible and by separating the installations from the structure as much as possible." This phase in particular is where the biggest gains can be made, he emphasizes. "Because we work with various production partners, we can make both 100% precast concrete airframes and interesting hybrid combinations. For example, precast concrete with steel and/or wood. But also the thinnest possible floors, reducing the overall building height or allowing more daylight. By adding more repetition to the supporting structure, the savings become even greater, leaving more money for building technology and finishing." A great example in this context is the Vocational Campus in Middelharnis, for which Stable Management worked out a very open and flexible building shell. But also Fibonacci in Amsterdam that, despite a wide variety of residential floor plans, could still be made suitable for a precast concrete shell. For the student housing at The Fizz in Leiden, a precast shell with two floor types, from two manufacturers, was chosen on the advice of Stabiel Management. "Through a clever combination of concrete and steel, an optimum in material use was created," says Stabiel Management.

All care out of your hands

For the engineering of its projects, Stable Management has more than 70 precast specialists. "With so many draftsmen, modelers, structural engineers and project managers, we can handle both large and small projects well. We relieve clients of all concerns about risk, planning and failure costs surrounding the main load-bearing structure. This allows them to devote all their time and attention to the rest of the project!"

More efficient, sustainable and safe

"Fabrication of precast concrete elements is higher quality, more efficient and safer than on-site production," Snijders believes. "That makes sense because the process is standardized at the manufacturer and because the climatic and working conditions here are optimal. Because all the elements are produced in advance, the work on the construction site revolves solely around assembly. This leads to a significantly shorter construction time and limits the inconvenience to the surroundings. In addition, the CO₂-reduction significantly. Everything transported to the construction site is actually processed. There is virtually no return flow of material. There are also significantly fewer people driving to and from the construction site because the assembly is done with a minimum of skilled technicians. In addition: the sooner the building is completed, the sooner it pays off. This significantly improves the ROI! With our calculation models, we make this transparent."

Sub-optimization becomes total optimization

An efficient and smart precast support structure offers benefits to all stakeholders in a project. "We think from the contractor's point of view here," Snijders concludes. "Because this is the only way to achieve the optimum. Including slightly more provisions in the shell can save another party so much, that on balance this saves money. For example, we are increasingly including prefab bathrooms and HSB elements during the assembly of the shell. We manage our projects from start to finish from the lean philosophy. Here, eliminating waste, reducing failure costs and just-in-time delivery go hand in hand with prefab construction. Thus, sub-optimization gives way to total optimization."