Dura Vermeer's digital housing factory never stands still: 'Increase the volume, then the price can come down considerably'

"It is a shame and a pity that Dutch housing factories are only running at half speed." So says Dorien Staal, director at Dura Vermeer and responsible for the construction group's so-called Virtual Factory, in the latest episode of the podcast Bureau Stoer. The solution: ensure predictable volume.

According to Staal, if developers, corporations and home builders ensure a predictable flow of orders, the price can be reduced by about 15 percent. That would also be grist to the mill for Dutch housing factories that are now performing moderately to poorly.

This is not the first time the former director of Beyond Prefab has made this call. She did so seven years ago in a room for corporation executives.

"Meanwhile, they are busy with construction flows, but the problem of factories (which are only running at half speed, ed) has not been solved. I welcome the initiatives, but signal the need to step up a gear. A predictable volume is the key to affordable housing construction," said the Dura Vermeer product development director.

Staal finds it "a shame" that the dozens of housing factories in the Netherlands have poor to moderate returns. In short, only 46 percent of total production capacity is utilized on average.

Why Dura Vermeer doesn't have its own housing factory

Dura Vermeer itself emphatically does not have a factory that produces complete homes. That was a conscious choice a few years ago. Staal: "I am not saying that it is unwise to invest in a housing factory. However, I do know from experience (read as former director of prefab factory Voorbij, ed) that it is not easy to run a factory. Partly because of construction schedules that can sometimes shift as much as four times."

In the podcast, she talks at length about Dura Vermeer's "virtual factory. "In short, that's a digital housing factory. A platform through which we cooperate with partners throughout the country using a far-reaching way of automation. We order floors, walls, roofs from different factories. Eventually we assemble everything at the construction site."

Steel is especially looking for suppliers who stick their necks out when it comes to sustainability. "Those we can reward. Why we do it this way? Shoemaker stick to your last, we think. I also find that charming. We as Dura are very good at building, just as those existing factories are very good at running factories. Let's do that as best we can and act together."

Targets 2027

They've been out of the starting blocks for a while with the virtual factory. But the bar is going higher and higher. "By 2027, we want to build 80 percent of our homes (now 2,700 a year) conceptually," he says.

In a gray past, she was also president of the Concrete Association. She's still busy making concrete more sustainable. "Once you get your feet in the concrete, you never get out," she self-declares.

In the episode, the Dura Vermeer director also talks candidly about her health problems (her eyesight deteriorated rapidly, ed.) that kept her on the sidelines for a long time and out of necessity. She has now had an operation and is doing much better.

"The months when I really couldn't do much also gave me a different perspective on life for a while... My new friends were, so to speak, the homeless people at the Albert Heijn that I chatted with every day for a while. And then you see everyone running by with earbuds and no one taking the time to say hello. Then you think, what are we actually all doing together?"

Curious about her answer to this question and the entire interview about Dura Vermeer's virtual housing factory. Then listen to the latest episode of the podcast Bureau Stoer here .

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