Casco homes including completely finished facades: 'That's all you need'

Consistently high quality and unprecedented design and finishing freedom. But also: a high construction pace and a clean construction site, at a low cost and minimal CO₂-emissions. Spaansen Bouwsystemen' façade-ready concrete structures offer numerous advantages for architects, contractors and end users.

The epicenter of Spaansen Bouwsystemen is the factory in Harlingen, where complete and modular concrete shells for ground-level houses and small apartment buildings are made. The shells, which are constructed from precast concrete floors and walls, are calculated, prepared and produced in close consultation with the customer, explains Ab Knook, group director of Spaansen Groep B.V. "We engineer each house individually, allowing maximum freedom in dimensions, design and execution. An ambition taken to an even higher level, with the introduction of our 'Facade Ready' concept."

Completely finished facades

Recently, Spaansen Bouwsystemen' concrete shells can also be delivered with completely finished facades. "With Facade Ready the precast system is completed, by pouring in the frames already in the factory and providing the walls with insulation, with a significantly higher Rc value than the Building Code prescribes," said Knook. "Then, using our robots, ceramic stone strips are glued to the insulation strip by strip." Thanks to Gevelklaar, the entire production process is traceable. "Moreover, production takes place under the best labor and climate conditions, ensuring consistently high quality."

Maximum design freedom

Within the automated process Spaansen Gevelklaar offers enormous design freedom. Architects and end customers can choose from different masonry patterns (half-brick bond, wildcard bond, tile/stacking bond), rolling and vertical masonry, cantilever bricks and more than 30 brick colors. Furthermore, since the corner strips and negative edges are already applied in the production process, fast on-site assembly is possible.

Gable-ready facades are traditionally jointed by hand, after which they are transported just-in-time to the construction site. Here, the in-house assembly crews are in charge of assembling the shell, providing the contractor with the necessary comfort. "Within a few days, the hoods can already be placed, after which the homes are immediately wind and watertight," Knook said. "Moisture problems during construction are thus greatly reduced and interior finishing can start immediately. Thanks to our system, the construction site remains clean and tidy. In addition, the number of operations and transport movements on the construction site is minimal."

New and CO₂-neutral factory

Especially for Facade Ready, Spaansen Bouwsystemen has a new and CO₂-neutral factory hall of 3,000 m² was built, with space for a carousel and full robot line. "Thanks to 1,150 solar panels, we can meet our own energy needs, while a heat pump keeps the hall at a constant temperature. This is essential for processing our adhesives and grouting. There is little or no efflorescence of facades. By integrating the transport of the facades into the current transport of concrete, our CO₂-footprint is also reduced. A conditioned and controlled manufacturing process results in less packaging materials and residual waste."

Commodities and Logistics 

Spaansen Bouwsystemen is one of the three main divisions of Spaansen Groep B.V., which further consists of Spaansen Grondstoffen en Logistiek and Spaansen Tuin en Bestrating. "Spaansen Grondstoffen en Logistiek focuses on the extraction of raw materials (sand and gravel) from the Wadden Sea, North Sea and IJsselmeer for the road construction and concrete industries," Knook says. "The division has its own ocean-going vessels, its own inland shipping fleet, several transshipment locations, a large grading facility and approximately sixty trucks, some of which are used for road construction. For example, the trucks bring sand from the unloading wharf to road construction projects. Regardless of whether this is a few cubic meters for a small contractor's paving or millions of cubic meters for highway construction."

Garden and Paving

The Spaansen Garden and Pavement division sells higher-end paving materials to landscapers and private individuals. "With our 'Tuinklaar' concept, we offer a solution for contractors," Knook said. "Tuinklaar encompasses project-based garden construction at ground-level new homes. For this, we enter into a contract with the contractor so that he can include the construction of a basic garden in the P.O.N. price. We then take care of the garden construction. Through a garden configurator, residents can customize their garden design."