Investing successfully and responsibly in property maintenance

How do you secure the long-term rentability of your housing stock? How do you maintain certainty about the quality and cost of maintenance? And how do you improve the functionality and energy performance of your housing stock? Willems Vastgoedonderhoud has the answer!

Planned maintenance

As a reliable and committed full-service maintenance partner, Willems Vastgoedonderhoud provides planned as well as architectural and energy maintenance, commissioned by housing associations in the South Holland region. With Tim, Sander and Sjors Willems, the third generation is at the helm of the family business, which is celebrating its 85th anniversary this year. "Willems Property Maintenance is all about close and long-term customer relationships," says Director of Planned Maintenance Tim Willems. "Commitment and quality are central to all our activities. For example, where possible we work according to the Results Oriented Collaboration (RGS) methodology. In particular, planned maintenance includes maintaining the exterior facade. Here our maintenance employees carry out carpentry, pointing, glazing and painting work every 7 to 8 years and entirely as required. During this natural maintenance moment, we also actively look at what energy measures are possible and desirable. Examples include the use of insulating glass, the (post-)insulation of walls and floors and other 'low hanging fruit', as a result of which homes improve aesthetically and energetically, while inconvenience to residents is kept to a minimum. Within our organization, we call this Planned Maintenance Plus."

A nice reference project for Planmatig Onderhoud Plus is the Wilbertoord in Rotterdam-IJsselmonde. Commissioned by Woonbron, Willems Vastgoedonderhoud recently prepared two residential blocks with a total of 56 homes from the 1970s for a sustainable future. "The homes have been taken off the gas and will be connected to the heat network, for which we made the structural preconditions," says Tim Willems. "For example, we replaced the existing glass with HR++ glass, replaced some of the facades with insulated panels and insulated all the basement ceilings. We also did painting and grouting on the facades, repaired wood rot, took fireproofing measures in the porches and modified the existing boiler room. Last-but-not-least, we modified the homes so that electric cooking became possible."

Architectural and energy maintenance

Housing associations that want to go a step further than planned maintenance can also turn to Willems Vastgoedonderhoud. At independent moments, the maintenance partner is also happy to provide large-scale architectural and energy maintenance at project level. For example, when an entire neighborhood needs to be brought to a higher energy label. "The big advantage of Willems Vastgoedonderhoud is that we have all maintenance disciplines in-house," stresses Director of Architectural/Energy Maintenance Sander Willems. "Communication, project development, realization and management are therefore very efficient. Moreover, we have an emphatic eye for long-term maintenance. We are very strong in resident communication, so our projects are widely supported."

For each project and based on the housing corporation's ambitions, Willems Vastgoedonderhoud works out various scenarios. "For example, in combination with facilities for heat networks (district heating), green gas (biogas) or all-electric living," explains Sander Willems. "But making homes transition-ready is also one of our options, as is the installation of PV panels. In our projects, we invariably base ourselves on the Trias Energetica; a three-step strategy in which we first reduce the home's energy demand by properly insulating. Then the energy demand that remains is met as sustainably as possible."

No-regret

Regardless of whether it involves planned, structural or energy maintenance, Willems Property Maintenance always takes a no-regret approach, Tim Willems emphasizes. "For example, when a new roof is installed, sufficient roof overhang is already created for possible exterior wall insulation in the future. Moreover, we like to look at real estate projects integrally: where are the real needs? And what can be postponed? This prevents unnecessary (re)investments."

Willems Vastgoedonderhoud recently made structural and energetic improvements to 40 housing units on the Resedastraat in Leiden. "Commissioned by Ons Doel and within the partnership Ons Onderhoud (Smits Vastgoedzorg and Aannemersbedrijf van der Helm), we have replaced window frames, windows and front doors as well as bathrooms, kitchens and toilets. In addition, all roofs were replaced and insulated. Old tiles were carefully sorted and replenished for reuse, thus making a nice contribution to the circular building idea," said Sander Willems. "Because the insulating measures put more pressure on the indoor climate, we also achieved a CO₂-controlled ventilation system provided. In both the design and implementation phases, we took the architect's old design drawings as our starting point. As a result, the houses - which are designated as a protected cityscape - again have their original 1920s appearance. At the same time, they meet all the requirements of our time."