Natural wood composite

Sustainable living in Gouda is how Verheij Vastgoedontwikkeling characterizes the Leopold 1813 transformation project. The former office building has been transformed into a complex with ten 'all-electric' starter apartments. Also in terms of materialization, materials with a green character were clearly sought, such as the natural wood composite Neolife of LJ Solutions on the facade.

Neolife has some special properties. "It places itself in the category of wood composite, but it is fundamentally different," says Corine Schoonderbeek of LJ Solutions. "This is because it consists largely of wood fibers, combined with minerals, salts and a small amount of virgin PVC. These minerals and salts ensure that Neolife achieves fire class B untreated, with the appearance of real wood. And that makes it extra interesting, apart from the circular properties of the material. It is truly biosbased and can be up to three times upcycled."

For years to come

Construction company Houtman applied Neolife at the entrance and on the top floor of Leopold 1813. "The company was already familiar with our product, which we supplied through our trade partner Verdouw," says Schoonderbeek. "A total of about 366 m2 is involved in the color 'Earth,' a shade of brown." Neolife can be mounted both horizontally and vertically and is available in various optical plank widths. "The panel itself has a working width of 30 centimeters and a standard length of 3 meters. Because of the strength and rigidity of the panel, only a single back rail is sufficient," Schoonderbeek explains. "From LJ Solutions, on projects like this, we like to think along from design to assembly and provide a practical elaboration and technical description. We like to make time for this, so that a fantastic end result is guaranteed for years to come. Human and agile, these are the core values within LJ Solutions. That also means that we spend a lot of time building lasting relationships. Not only internally, but also externally with our clients."

Neolife is definitely a runner in LJ Solutions' product line. "It's because of the unique properties of the product. It is maintenance-free and enormously durable," Schoonderbeek emphasizes again. "After 50 years of service on the facade, for example, we can take it in and reprocess it into a new panel through the French manufacturer. With the same qualities. And that upcycling can be repeated up to three times. So it is rightly a material that is also very interesting for the future."