Producibility

The continuing scarcity in the labour market is impeding progress on the complex and growing challenges facing the Netherlands. With fewer people able to carry out the work, we need a fundamental change in working methods and production methods: working smarter, not harder. We make maximum use of advanced digital technology and industrial construction techniques to create modular solutions that we offer in a unique composition. We believe this will enable us to double the contribution per employee by 2030.

Working twice as smart

We will achieve our ambition to double the revenue per employee in six years by standardising our working methods and using digital technology and applications. To do this, we need to combine our know-how and expertise in smart systems. We are looking for ways to help us do this in all our business operations, in areas such as standardisation, digitalisation, automation and the application of industrial-scale construction techniques. Creating unique combinations of modular solutions – optimised building blocks – will enable us to continue to meet specific client demands. The possibilities this offers lead to shorter lead times, higher production levels and quality, reduced failure costs, as well as new business opportunities in some cases, without resulting in uniformity or a loss of diversity. The contribution per employee will then increase accordingly. In addition, we believe that this approach will reduce the waste of scarce materials.

Digitalisation

Digitalisation is essential for Heijmans if we are to remain future-proof. Digitalisation enables us to organise our work more effectively and efficiently. By pooling data, we can create new insights and offer smart solutions. Adding AI to digital processes enables us to get more done with fewer resources. Digitalisation effectively acts as an key accelerator for innovation and growth.

Digital development

Our goal is to realise our scenarios for area and building developments through a combination of generative and parametric methods by 2027. We will do this based on data models that accurately map the context of our projects. This will give us a faster and better understanding of which solutions are the most promising. While this process can currently take months or even years, our ambition is to be able to go from idea to detailed plan within 30 days by 2030. This will enable us to accelerate the planning of projects.

To realise this ambition, in 2024 we took a number of significant steps to explore and develop the necessary resources. The focus is on continuing to standardise and integrate processes within a platform. This includes linking our own housing concepts to other existing products and services. This enables us to generate and configure solutions in every phase – from area to home – that accelerate the process, increase efficiency and improve the quality and cohesion of the plans we produce.

Digital construction

4D model

Given the increasing emphasis on the fully digital construction of projects, the application of the 4D model has really taken off. This tool enables us to make significant improvements in quality and safety. Furthermore, a 4D model is an ideal way to give clients, internal and external partners and stakeholders in the area a better understanding of construction plans and to discuss them. A 4D model is very similar to a 3D model, but adds the factors of time and planning. In 2024, we used a 4D model in the construction of the railway underpass in Rijen, adding the components time and planning to the design. For our client ProRail and for ourselves, this meant that we could prepare the work accurately and assess risks more effectively in advance. This in turn enabled us to reduce the risk of delays and errors.

Automatic repetitive tasks (ART)

In 2024, we made significant progress in the automation of repetitive tasks (ART) in the design process, particularly in the field of installation technology. We have greatly simplified common tasks, such as the generation of prefab sets and the automatic placement of connection details, through the development and use of fifteen specific scripts. A concrete example of this is the automatic generation of openings for electrical and mechanical installations, as applied in the renovation of Gemini North, a faculty building at the Eindhoven University of Technology. Thanks to this automation, we have been able to reduce the turnaround time for modelling the openings by 80%.

This method not only accelerates the design process, but also increases efficiency and accuracy. Using this method, we have laid a solid foundation for future innovation and automation.

Data-driven asset management

We manage and maintain infrastructural works for public and private clients right across the country, including the Ministry of Public Works and Water Management, Schiphol Airport, provincial and municipal authorities and port authorities. This work also includes monitoring digital systems such as traffic lights, roadside stations, charging infrastructure and public lighting. We use sensors to monitor roads, viaducts, locks, dykes, bridges and other fixed structures. This enables us to continuously assess the condition of virtually all the assets in our management portfolio and to recognise serious deterioration or impending failure at an early stage. This ultimately leads to cost savings and increases the reliability of critical infrastructure. We also monitor pollution and emission levels.

All the data from these monitoring systems comes together in our Connect Platform, which we developed in-house. In 2024, we connected approximately two thousand assets to Connect, including lampposts, traffic lights and locks. Our clients retain ownership of their data, while Connect converts it into useful insights and advice. AI gives us automated information about expected system failures. This in turn enables us to proactively schedule any necessary maintenance and minimise system failures.

Another application of AI within our processes is the introduction of DORA in 2024. DORA, a virtual expert based on Microsoft Copilot, provides support for maintenance workers during repairs to and maintenance of traffic control systems, among other things. DORA gives colleagues rapid and targeted access to knowledge and support. This increases the efficiency of the maintenance of the 500 traffic control systems we manage every year.

Working on a digital future

With an eye to the future, we are working on the expansion of our data-driven asset management services. Our aim is to be able to provide predictive information to support half of our service and asset management contracts by 2027. Of course, we will continue to invest in innovation, for example in the field of sensor technology and AI applications. Data processing is becoming increasingly sophisticated. In addition to performing trend analyses and monitoring threshold values, we are now using AI to develop automated insights and predictions of system behaviour. We team up with our clients to explore the demand and need for data-driven management and maintenance. In order to apply knowledge and working methods as repetitively and uniformly as possible in our processes, we continue to focus on standard procedures and IT solutions such as Connect. This helps us achieve operational excellence, including efficient and profitable management and maintenance, and maximum value for our clients.

Production technology

How we produce and build will change dramatically in the coming years. At Heijmans, we are embracing the possibilities of digital technology and investigating how we can run production processes more simply, faster, better and more safely. There are great opportunities in the field of standardisation and industrialisation.

Standardisation of processes and working methods

Heijmans sees standardisation as an essential step towards more efficient construction. It helps us to make processes and designs or partial designs repeatable. This means that parts such as components for buildings, roads and bridges can be used more frequently. This prevents the need for a completely customised design for each project.

Standardisation offers significant advantages, such as increased safety, greater efficiency, shorter lead times, improved quality, a reduction in failure costs, a high degree of predictability and, very importantly, it creates a learning curve. We also ensure that completed projects can be easily modified in the future.

With these goals in mind, Heijmans develops smart standards that not only improve efficiency, but also offer sufficient flexibility for customisation, depending on specific situations and user needs.

Conceptual construction

Heijmans is increasingly opting for conceptual construction: offering a standardised range of products. This guarantees higher quality, lower failure costs, a faster process and greater affordability. We create unique client solutions from modular components. Our aim is to deliver three-quarters of our homes using this method by 2030. To achieve this goal, we have developed a variety of modules. During the design phase, we work closely with our partners to meet the needs of our clients as effectively as possible. In conceptual construction, we still develop the unique components individually, but most components consist of smart standards and variations on these.

We have gained a lot of experience with this client-driven approach over the past twenty years. Examples include the Heijmans Huismerk, Heijmans ONE and TWO, and also B'Woond, our approach to making existing homes more sustainable in a smarter way. Our Horizon homes also fall under this category. The modules and parts for these timber-framed houses are assembled in a dry and safe environment in our production facility in Heerenveen, before being transported to the site on three lorries per house. The house is assembled on site in less than a day.

Optio

Van Wanrooij had already built more than 16,000 homes using the Optio concept by the end of 2024, following a highly standardised process and construction method. The standard basis is combined with options for variation in design and lay-out. In addition, the process offers a choice from a wide range of standardised options.

By continuously responding to changing market demand – such as the need for affordable housing for smaller households or housing that can be adapted to changing needs – Van Wanrooij is continuing to develop the Optio concept, making it more sustainable and adding new models. The company is also incorporating innovations in the fields of nature inclusivity and climate resilience. In the near future, basic models will include integrated nesting boxes, rainwater drainage, infiltration facilities and energy storage in homes as standard features.

Home configurator

In 2024, we completed two successful pilots projects using our home configurator, which combines customisation and efficiency. Customers can use the digital tool to design their home fully in line with their wishes. It also shortens the design process. The home configurator is clear and user-friendly; customers can immediately see what their future home will look like and get an idea of the financial consequences of their choices, such as an extension or a dormer window. This not only makes the process more efficient, but also enhances the customer experience.

Modular Platform: from pilot to wider applications

The Heijmans Modular Platform (HMP) is designed to standardise the development, design and realisation processes, enabling us to automate and optimise them. This enables us to tailor processes more effectively to the wishes of customers and stakeholders. The platform, which was developed in-house and draws on the expertise of both Heijmans and its supply chain, enables us to tackle complex design assignments more efficiently and effectively. Every phase of the process – from design to realisation – is integrated in the platform. HMP makes it possible to generate millions of design options more easily and analyse them based on cost, sustainability and planning. The diverse range of design modules within the platform creates unique synergies, enabling us to provide data-driven advice in the early stages of a project. In 2024, we reached an important milestone with the completion of the pilot of our data centre generator at one of our clients. This pilot highlighted the value of our platform in practice and provided valuable insights for further development. In parallel, we added two new functionalities to the platform, including advanced analyses of investments, lead times and sustainability criteria such as CO₂ emissions and nitrogen impact.

We are now expanding the platform to cover broader areas of application, such as the Living and Connecting segments. In 2024, we developed the first version of the generator for Huismerk Urban Apartments. This tool will enable developers and designers to generate optimal mass studies at the touch of a button when putting together large-scale inner-city apartment complexes in 2025, enabling them to quickly analyse different building volumes and configurations. In the future, we want to add multiple building shapes and link generators and configurators in a modular platform. This will enable us to continue to automate and streamline the entire process from idea to design and realisation. This will make it possible to immediately understand the consequences of desired changes in participatory processes. This will lead to shorter lead times and offer clients, stakeholders and local authorities more flexibility and greater insight into the consequences of their choices.

Industrial-scale construction

Standardisation, automation and digitalisation could ultimately lead to a completely industrialised process for a product. This would bring the ‘product from the factory’ within reach. It is easy to monitor conditions in an industrial process. This improves safety, efficiency, lead times and quality. Industrialisation also encourages continuous improvement of the process.

Timber-frame house production facility

The completion of our first project with timber-framed houses in 2024, produced in our factory in Heerenveen, marked an important milestone for us. In the ‘t Ven neighbourhood of Eindhoven, we built 88 homes for tenants of the ‘thuis’ housing corporation. These Horizon houses are produced in our CO₂-neutral production facility, are built using industrial methods and are equipped with a smart climate control system to ensure a healthy indoor climate. They are also energy-neutral. The homes are digitally configured and assembled in the factory from demountable 2D and 3D elements. Thanks to this efficient production process, we can now erect a wind-proof and waterproof home on location in a single day. In addition to the project in Eindhoven, we also built homes in the municipalities of Zeewolde, Nuenen and Culemborg in 2024.

Prefab solutions

In the context of future-proof construction, we also see great opportunities for industrialisation in infrastructural projects. In 2024, we started a new production site in Son for the modular prefabrication and renovation of guardrails. We expect this production method to enable us to increase our volume from 50 to 70 kilometres per year. We also make reuse possible by dismantling old guardrails, galvanising them and making them suitable for reuse.

Robotisation

Robotisation can help us reduce the need for human labour. This not only offers advantages due to the tight labour market, but also improves the safety and well-being of employees. Robots are often more productive than people for specific tasks and they have unique capabilities.

Take, for example, the remote-controlled cleaning robot in the Brouwerssluis lock, co-developed by Heijmans, which we tested in 2024. This innovative robot is well equipped to remove the heavy growth of shells and algae from the walls of the 200-metre-long concrete culvert (a connecting pipe between two bodies of water) that links the North Sea to Lake Grevelingen. Thanks to the robot, it is no longer necessary to completely seal off and manually clean the culvert.

The HP SitePrint, often called Daisy, is another good example. This printing robot, used in projects such as the Spijkenisser bridge project and De Kuil in Rotterdam, marks the contours of interior walls, door swing directions, centre lines for recesses and installation technology and anchor patterns directly on the floor. Daisy is also used on roofs to print out positioning points for tiles and anchors for solar panels. Using Daisy increases precision, reduces failure costs and encourages efficient collaboration between various disciplines.