Industrial construction for a faster, affordable, and sustainable construction sector

Thema:: Circular and industrial construction

The construction industry needs to build more affordable and sustainable housing, and fast – but traditional construction methods alone won’t cut it. Fortunately, industrial and conceptual construction offers promising advantages for the entire construction process, from development to delivery. Thanks to TNO’s expertise in industrialisation and digitalisation, the latest technologies can be put to best use, enabling the construction industry to build more affordable and more sustainable homes faster.

What is industrial and conceptual construction?

Industrial and conceptual construction means that homes are designed, configured, built, and assembled in a standardised and efficient way. The homes are prefabricated, brought to the construction site, and put in place. This process not only minimises nitrogen and CO2 emissions on site, but also speeds up construction time, lowers costs, and increases the quality and durability of the homes.

Advantages of industrial and conceptual construction

The current planning procedures and project-orientated way of building are proving to be a hindrance in the Netherlands’ huge housing and sustainability challenge. With industrial and conceptual construction, we can largely remove these barriers and achieve the following benefits:

Developing, designing, planning, and coordinating construction projects often takes longer than the actual construction. By developing standardised housing concepts suitable for industrial construction methods, homes can be put up faster, smarter, and with a smaller scope for error. In doing so, we support everyone involved ‒ from the municipality to the construction engineer ‒ with digital tools such as parametric design, automatic permit checks, and building information modelling (BIM). This significantly shortens the lead time, streamlining the flow from idea to handover.

One of the ways to reap the benefits of conceptual construction methods is to change the way we put contracts out to tender. This leads to increased demand predictability and continuity, paving the way for investment in configurable housing and the automated processes that go with it. By digitalising processes and deploying technologies such as AI, we’ll soon be able to generate and configure designs at various scales, from regenerative local development to the configuration of kitchens. This allows material choices, planning, and design to be fine-tuned even more precisely, making processes more efficient, manageable, and predictable.

Combining conceptual and industrial construction methods is the key to standardisation in prefabrication. This reduces dependence on scarce labour and materials, increases productivity, and reduces waste to a minimum. In the coming years, human labour will still be essential. However, the role and function of people in the process is changing. With the increasing influence of robotisation, work is becoming more challenging, technological, and accessible to people at a distance from the labour market.

Industrial construction makes circular and energy-efficient solutions a reality, as reusable components and smart energy designs become standard in the process. Standardisation and modular design result in scalable, reusable solutions.

Thanks to conceptual construction methods with type approvals and replicable designs, homes can be built more cost-effectively. Industrial construction methods, such as prefabrication, ensure that this scale-up can be achieved efficiently and within budget.

The combination of conceptual and industrial construction methods encourages cooperation between different parties in the construction chain. Standardised processes, shared digital platforms, and transparent communication create smoother workflows and reduce failure costs. Because we consider housing concepts as products, we can use information from the value chain very early on in the development process, even during the local area development stage. This ensures a stronger, future-proof construction industry.

TNO’s vision of industrial construction

The industry is already fully engaged in industrial construction, but there is still a lot to be done. The capacity and knowledge in the market are not being sufficiently harnessed to meet the high demand for new homes. A comprehensive view of local area development and integrated value chain development are essential here.

TNO is helping to fulfil the promises of industrial construction by working on an integrated approach, from concept to completion. We want to not only contribute to individual business solutions, but also help the construction industry to develop more broadly. By focusing on technology, standardisation, and sustainability, TNO is committed to an innovative construction sector that is fit for the future.

Why TNO?

Innovation is something you do together. TNO is your ideal partner for this. By working closely with industry and creating or revising framework conditions at the system level, we help areas develop under an integrated approach. We’re looking for new forms of cooperation within chains, transforming projects into tangible products, and developing processes that focus on the interaction between people and the latest technologies. Our ultimate goal is to ensure affordable, sustainable housing for all.

To achieve this goal, TNO has gained extensive experience and expertise in industrial construction in recent years. We also make smart use of our multidisciplinary knowledge at TNO.

Our solutions

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Artificial Intelligence, robotisation and industrialisation

We’re facing a systematic shortage of engineering professionals. With an ageing population, that shortage will only worsen in the years to come. This is precisely where AI and robotisation can help. By working smarter, we can do more with fewer people. TNO Vector is exploring how we can use new technologies to make a giant productivity leap in the face of labour market shortages.
Smart manufacturing

Thanks to its High Tech Industry unit, TNO has in-depth knowledge of smart manufacturing using automation and robotisation. Among other things, the principles and learning outcomes developed and perfected in the automotive or electronics industry can also be applied to industrial construction.
Systems engineering

Through systems engineering, we can create a work breakdown structure (WBS), which describes all the work to be done to achieve the intended project result. The purpose of a WBS is to divide work into manageable work packages.
Contingent approach

With the contingent approach, TNO offers renovation solutions in line with industrialised principles on the market. The focus here is less on product standardisation and more on process and value chain standardisation.
Zero-emission construction

As lead partner of the Zero-Emission Construction programme, TNO has gained valuable experience in industrialised prefabricated construction. This has led to promising timber construction concepts and delivered new insights into emissions, materials, and production methods that will help the Netherlands tackle its housing challenge and meet its emission targets.
Digital lifecycle management

One of the three Joint Innovation Centres (JICs) set up by TNO and the University of Twente specialises in digital lifecycle management. Using digital monitoring and models, this JIC contributes to knowledge about the construction, management, and renovation of homes and other buildings. This expertise is particularly valuable for implementing industrial construction.

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Partners in industrial construction

To make industrial construction widely applicable, TNO is looking to work with partners across the chain:

Construction companies: small, medium, and large players seeking to scale up in or move into industrial construction.
Suppliers: companies supplying prefabricated components, modular systems, or circular products or materials.
Software partners: start-ups or established companies offering new digital solutions to accelerate construction.
Developers and investors: organisations looking to optimise their returns through innovative construction methods.
Public authorities: municipalities, provinces and other public bodies tasked with responding to capacity, innovation, sustainability, and housing challenges.
Architects and engineering firms: designers and consultants who embrace new design and are working or looking to work on scalable home products.

Contact us

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Rob Roef

Functie:
Senior business developer
My many years of experience, especially within the CAD, GIS and BIM world, make me our unit's designated business developer in the field of digitalisation in the built environment. Whether it's digital twins, predictive models, ontologies or monitoring of existing buildings and infrastructure, I know how to make the link between market and TNO expertise.

More about Rob
- Standplaats:
  Delft - Molengraaffsingel (NEXT)
- Email:
  Email Rob
- LinkedIn:
  Rob on LinkedIn
Wouter van Groesen

Functie:
Medior Scientist Integrator Industrialisation
At TNO, I mainly work in the built environment together with stakeholders on the transition from project-based to product-based work. I work at the intersection between business administration and technology and am active at both the strategic and operational levels. On the one hand, for example, I investigate the impact of the latest technologies on our industries. On the other hand, I advise both (inter)national consortia and specific companies on the design and optimisation of concepts, processes, value chains and factories.

More about Wouter
- Standplaats:
  Delft - Molengraaffsingel (NEXT)
- Email:
  Email Wouter
Tim van Ee

Functie:
Consultant digitalisation in modular and industrialised construction
At TNO I am concerned with the acceleration of construction and renovation tasks in the Netherlands, with a specific focus on the role of digitalisation and industrialisation. My research focuses mainly on the transition from a project-based approach to a product/process-based approach in the construction industry in which we can learn across projects. In this way we try to save time, especially in the planning phase, but also the production and assembly phase of a construction process.

More about Tim
- Standplaats:
  Delft - Molengraaffsingel (NEXT)
- Email:
  Email Tim

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