Ready-made homes from Zeeland soil

Nine single-family homes in three months

CascoTotaal's Circle concrete structures combine design freedom with comfort, sustainability and circularity. From the factory, the concrete shells comply with the Decree on Building Works for the Environment. Both in terms of building physics and fire safety. This makes them suitable for both temporary and permanent occupation, as in the Modulo project in Vlissingen. On the Verkuijl Quakkelaarstraat, V&V Bouw was commissioned by l'escaut to demolish nine old houses and four apartments in a circular fashion and replace them with Modulo single-family homes in just three months. The homes were built on the basis of the Circle concrete shell, without sacrificing residential quality and sustainability.

The Modulo houses are completely prefabricated in CascoTotaal's finishing hall in Terneuzen. This ensured faster construction, high quality and less environmental impact. "The houses were produced and finished off-site and under the best climatic and labor conditions," says Jonathan van de Velde, project leader at V&V Bouw. "This kept inconvenience to local residents to a minimum, which also applies to CO2 emissions as well as waste on site. Because the modules were transported to Vlissingen in one go and completely finished, we were able to save on transport movements. In just two days, all the shells were installed."

Ready-made

The Modulo homes in Flushing are suitable for single and two-person households. "Each sectional house of about 70 m2 is constructed from two Circle concrete shells, which were delivered including roofing, facade cladding, wallpaper-ready interior walls, painted ceilings, kitchen, bathroom and stairs. At the construction site, all we had to do was make the connections between the ground and second floors, connect the installations and take care of the final paneling."

Sustainable and circular

"Convincing for l'escaut was the sustainability and circularity of the Circle concrete airframe, combined with the modular finishing and prefabricated construction," Van de Velde said. "The Circle airframe is designed to be reused over and over again, making it super circular. And the finish is also highly sustainable, thanks to mineral stone strips, flax-core interior walls and a prefab bathroom with a core of recycled PET bottles. The homes are installed with a permanent permit and will remain standing for at least 50 years, after which both the shell and the finish can be reused."

Next step: Cicle-Living

With Circle-Living, CascoTotaal is taking a new step in prefab and circular construction at the end of this year. "The ambition of the concept is to transfer the sustainability, quality and flexibility of our concrete structures into the finishing process," says Jeroen Adriaansen, product manager at CascoTotaal. "The result are complete prefab houses based on as many circular and bio-based materials as possible that - through a national network of construction partners such as V&V Bouw - can be completed and then placed anywhere in the Netherlands. Construction companies interested in developing with us are welcome to get in touch."