Aalden will have four natural prefab houses

A super-sustainable prefab house, made from almost exclusively natural materials such as wood, straw and wood fiber boards. Four copies of this will soon be available in Aalden. “This is the future, soon there will be houses like this everywhere.”

If it were up to Otto Lugers, project leader at Woonservice, he would immediately move on to the next location for so-called ‘biobased’ prefab homes after this small-scale construction project in Aalden. “It is a new form of ecological living, which is currently attracting a lot of interest. This project fits perfectly into the current transition from natural to ecological living. As a corporation, we believe that the current way of building cannot continue for years to come.”

That there is also a lot of interest in this was already evident last year, when Woonservice started the first project with this type of homes. Eight super-sustainable prefab houses were built in Exloo. More than four hundred interested parties registered with the corporation.

The idea is that as little damage as possible is caused to nature when building these houses. “We do not use any chemicals during construction. In fact, nature can reabsorb almost all parts of the house at a later time. No foils are used.” Due to the alternative construction method, the construction costs of these types of homes are ten to fifteen percent higher than for regular houses.

The idea for these homes is appealing, Lugers knows. “Just like the energy bill that tenants have to deal with. Because in these houses, depending on your consumption, energy consumption is virtually zero. This is because we use high-quality insulation, plus eight solar panels and an energy-efficient installation in the form of an air-water heat pump.”

The four houses that are now being built on the Molenwijk in Aalden have now been allocated to tenants. “In three of the four houses, tenants come from the old houses who previously lived in this location,” says Lugers. These are homes that are suitable for one- or two-person households.

Construction, in the hands of developer Van Dijk Bouwgroep from Hardenberg, will start on Wednesday. “That goes super fast,” says Lugers. “Within a few days the timber frame will be standing and then the contours of the houses will soon be visible.” However, it will probably take until the end of April before the houses are habitable. “This mainly has to do with the supply from energy companies.”

The project leader thinks that these types of homes will take off in Drenthe in the near future. “Several corporations from our region are looking over our shoulders with interest. I know that the Actium corporation in Assen already has concrete plans in this area.”

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