Modular construction, a perfect  solution for sloping sites

The mortar machine roars along, the shriek of circular saws shakes you to the core. You can hear hammering and trucks with construction material coming and going – and often this goes on until late in the evening hours. Anyone who has a construction site right in front of their doorstep, with all the noise and dirt this causes – often for months – needs to have nerves of steel.

“Especially in gaps between buildings in inner-city sites, conventional homebuilding harasses the entire street,” says Holger Kühne, company officer at Dennert Raumfabrik. The company, located in Schlüsselfeld in the German region of Upper Franconia, manufactures prefab modular concrete houses. This, according to Kühne, offers definite benefits on the construction site – after all, 90 % of the parts of such buildings are prefabricated in a plant.

Much of the construction material is already built into the modules and need not be stored on the construction site. There are hardly any construction material residues and waste to contend with on the site – most of this remains in the plant. Only complete modules are delivered, as well as the materials for the foundation and for connection to the public mains. Based on Kühne’s estimate, this reduces construction site traffic by 90 %.

Neighbor-friendly construction: less noisy, cleaner, faster

“This construction method is also a good solution for building on problematic slopes,” continues Kühne. This is especially because, on those sites, there is often not enough level space for setting up numerous machines. In precast construction, this is not necessary: the crane that places the room modules immediately at the right place leaves soon – at the latest, after two days. After one week, Dennert picks up the waste container – otherwise, often the responsibility of the client – after one week.

While a conventional home takes about half a year for completion, Dennert hands over the key to the client after a total of not quite three weeks. Actual building of the house is finished after a maximum of two days. “That is house-building in time-lapse,” says Kühne. “In this way, we also soothe the nerves of the future neighbors.”

When there is only a small site available, the Icon S modular prefab house from Dennert is a prime solution. The modules are arranged on two levels, one on top of the other. Outside widths of 6.20 m and lengths of 11 m result in a living area of 105 m². The walls of all modules are already plastered, the socket outlets pre-installed. The bathroom is tiled and outfitted, ready for use. Accordingly, hardly any trades are needed. Even the doors in the house are part of the delivery scope.