Modular home builders: 'Permits will come later, let's start building sooner'

Modular home builders want to be able to build without a permit. The pioneering plan would be good for the construction of an additional ten thousand homes annually. Whether the Ministry of Housing and Spatial Planning agrees to it remains to be seen.

Within a month, a week or sometimes even within 24 hours: building industrially manufactured homes is lightning fast and is not the problem. Where it goes wrong is in the preparation. On average it takes between 8 and 12 years due to complicated procedures and "endless" interests.

It can be done faster, says Modular Netherlands, a relatively young association of modular and circular home builders, including VDL de Meeuw, Plegt-Vos, Daiwa House and Barli. The builders note that housing projects are seriously delayed by the "unnecessarily delaying procedural circus.

"We need to get speed in planning," states Bram van Rijt, vice president of Modular Netherlands. "By far the most time is lost in the planning phase," he says in the latest episode of Bureau Stoer. "That's frustrating. We have the awards, but we don't have the permits."

Exemption

Waiting for final approval for a housing plan, it says, is unnecessary in the vast majority of cases: after that procedural journey of between eight and ten years, homes usually just get built, without significant adjustments to the plans. This also applies to projects that have been challenged all the way to the Council of State, the highest administrative court in the Netherlands.

Modular Netherlands is now advocating that building homes that can be easily taken apart and moved should be allowed on designation sites without a permit. RO (spatial planning) procedures would be followed, but not waited on. The proposal would save enormous amounts of time and could be done without too much risk to people and the environment, the association said. Van Rijt estimates that an additional 10,000 homes could be built annually as a result.

"Should in the exceptional case a permit still fail to be granted, we can always remove the homes. Modular homes are by definition detachable and relocatable, while complying with the Built Environment Decree (BBL)," Van Rijt substantiated.

Two weeks ago, Modular Netherlands also sent a letter to the Ministry of Housing and Spatial Planning with the same call. The association has not yet received a response.

Too bad

Several factory home builders in the Netherlands are currently performing below capacity or even running at half strength. Van Rijt, also managing director at VDL De Meeuw, finds it "unfortunate to see the installed capacity not being utilized.

Still, he sees light at the end of the tunnel. "I have confidence in the future. Eventually the work will come naturally to these factories, not least because labor productivity in the sector is becoming an increasing problem due to an aging population, among other things."

Van Rijt is additionally critical of the BBL. According to him, the stacking of rules has become too complex. The vice president of Modular Netherlands originally comes from the industry. Seven years ago he made the switch to the construction industry and sometimes did not know what he saw.

"It is incredibly difficult to reach decision-making in construction. That process is so tough. In the industrial sector, the goals are much clearer. I thought: if we approach this in an industrial way, it might be a bit faster... It's not easy yet."

A growing movement of municipalities, fire chiefs and builders is pushing for a drastic revision of the former Building Code. The House of Representatives is meeting on this later this month.

Curious about the whole story of Bram van Rijt? Listen to the latest episode of Bureau Stoer here.