More standard rental properties in Helmond and region

There will be many more standard rental homes in Helmond and the region. The first thousand are 'running out'. The supply will be expanded to include single-floor houses and larger flats. The homes will be extremely 'green' if it is up to the housing associations.

, "They are real, complete houses. Not emergency housing, not temporary housing." Director Bas Sievers of Helmond's largest housing corporation Woonpartners had to explain it regularly. Now that a few flat blocks are almost finished or complete, everyone can see for themselves. "They are built with materials we are familiar with, only the construction is more efficient. We really have something special on our hands."

It was something new that 13 corporations and nine municipalities in this region were going to do. In January 2021, they signed a contract with builders Heijmans and BAM for the purchase of a thousand standardised houses; flats and terraced houses. The aim of the project called WoonST is to speed up construction and reduce costs.

,,Mass is cash. By buying in bulk together, you get a discount and the contractor has continuity for off-take," Sievers says. ,,Yet it is absolutely not uniformity. You shouldn't be able to say 'those are those WoonST' twenty years from now."

In the exterior finishing, the houses may differ. In the basics, all homes look alike. That should simplify procedures around, for example, permits. "There are hands short everywhere and you always have to take into account legal deadlines for objections. But things are really going a lot faster already. On average, it takes seven years to prepare a building plan. At WoonST it's about two years. What I find cool is that municipalities themselves are saying that it might be possible to do it even faster."

'There is still quite a lot of room to build in existing towns and villages. What is crucial is that we can buy enough locations at reasonable plot prices'

Bas Sievers, director Woonpartners

All parties want to continue the cooperation. WoonST will be followed up. More municipalities in the region are expected to join. ,,It looks like we will have run out of the 1,000 homes we bought by the end of the year. They will certainly not all be there by then, but the projects are ongoing," Sievers said. Helmond, Eindhoven and Veldhoven have so far made the most metres with the standard rental homes.

In the autumn, the search for makers for WoonST 2.0 will start. This will be done through a European tender. The corporations want to procure far more than a thousand homes this round, but they also have more wishes. There should be more types of housing. ,,We miss zero-floor homes (mostly ground-floor). There is increasing demand for that. We also want to be able to offer more variety within a building block. It should be a mix of flats for one, two and three people," Sievers said.

Sustainability is becoming even more important in the 13 corporations' new bulk purchases. Not only must the homes be energy-efficient, the use of natural materials and building as clean as possible are also high on the agenda.

"Builders who can offer that will get priority," Sievers says. "It would be nice if every home could be taken apart and rebuilt somewhere else. Even if you never do it, it would still be great if the opportunity is there."

Where are we going to see all these WoonST homes soon? ,,In existing towns and villages, there is still quite a lot of room to build. The crucial thing is that we can buy enough sites at reasonable plot prices. Land prices here are among the highest in the country."

Sievers and his fellow corporation directors have been arguing with municipalities for years about what they see as overpriced building land. "We are there to add more front doors, not to pad the municipality's coffers. We want to help speed up construction, we do what we can, but we need each other. The collaboration in WoonST has set something in motion."

Growing and building in Brainport

Helmond and the Brainport region want to grow substantially. This cannot be done without building tens of thousands of new homes. The bulk of these must be in the affordable category. Agreements have been made on this with the region, province and state. In the current market, however, it is not easy to fulfil the ambitions. Corporations fear that new construction will become unaffordable. Cheaper plots could help them. In the region, however, public housing corporations have been arguing with municipalities for years about what they see as too high land prices.

The standardised housing of WoonST is a project in which the parties have since found each other. Thirteen housing corporations (Woonbedrijf, Woonpartners, Wocom, Sint Trudo, Volksbelang, Compaen, Bergopwaarts, Woningbelang, Woningstichting de Zaligheden, Goed Wonen, Thuis, Helpt Elkander and Wooninc.) and nine municipalities in the Stedelijk Gebied Eindhoven (Best, Eindhoven, Geldrop-Mierlo, Helmond, Nuenen, Oirschot, Son en Breugel, Veldhoven and Waalre) have joined forces to speed up construction and make it affordable.

Source: Eindhovens Dagblad, 23-08-2023