Six manufacturers receive first KOMO certificate for type-approval modular homes

July 29, 2024

Recently, six manufacturers of modular turnkey homes received the first KOMO certificate granted for a complete home. It is the first time in the Netherlands that approval has been given for a specific home type. Martin van Rijn (Aedes chairman) and Jacos van Zelst (programme director for fast-tracked temporary accommodation at the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations – BZK) presented this certification for type-approval during a festive event held at Aedes in The Hague.

The first type-approvals of turnkey homes came from the factories of Barli, Daiwa Modular House Europe, De Groot Vroomshoop, Hodes Huisvesting, Startblock and Ursem Modulaire Bouwsystemen. Before KOMO certification was issued all drawings, specifications and calculations of the building systems were subject to critical assessment by the certification bodies SKH and SKG-IKOB. The factory production process and internal quality assurance were also tested. In the future, this will be checked again at random.

" “Through this we facilitate the market with national approval for a concept home,” says Ton Jans, director of KOMO. As a result “this significantly shortens the entire process from licensing to completed building, which reduces costs, including for the client.” "

With the new KOMO certificate based on Assessment Guideline 0903-1, clients, quality assuring bodies and municipalities can be confident that they meet all the requirements of the Decree on Building Works in the Residential Environment. It is therefore no longer necessary to re-establish for each individual home or project whether this type of home is safe and may be built. This speeds up the building process and the quality assurer can do less testing.

" SKH director, Oscar van Doorn points out the particular features of this certificate: “It isn't just the processes that are in order with this type-approval. On the contrary, it is a statement on the final home/product that leaves the factory.” "

The certification results from the pilot ‘Type-Approval for Modular Homes’, involving the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, certification bodies SKH and SKG-IKOB, the Expertise Centre ‘Flexwonen’ (project leader in this), KiK quality assurance bodies PlanGarant and gBou. and the six manufacturers. Both the Building Quality Assurance Act (Dutch Wkb) and the enormous building task were the reason for the pilot and certification.

" Wim Reedijk from Expertise Centre Flexwonen believes the type-approval is a milestone for home building. He indicates that the expertise centre will go further. “We will support interested manufacturers in the process towards type-approval. ”We are already developing a website with information aimed at helping them with this.” "