Afeer has therefore started a new production line in the carpentry factory on the Hoogebrug in Winschoten. Initially ten people will be employed, but Afeer director Johan van Dam expects to be able to scale up to 20 to 25 people within a few months.
Two-year agreement concluded
In the first weeks, approximately fifty wooden skeleton frames, 6 by 3 meters, are sent out to Dun’s company in Oude Pekela every week. There they are ‘filled in’ with fiber hemp, after which they are transported to the construction site.
Afeer and Dun Agro have signed a two-year deal. “A great regional collaboration and focused on sustainability. This theme will become increasingly important in the coming years,” says Van Dam.
Dun Agro launched the idea of building fiber homes in 2012. The first homes were actually built in 2015 and 2016. Meanwhile, the orders are pouring in. 36 homes will be built in Boekelo, and Dun Agro will also start work in Rotterdam, Hoogezand, Finsterwolde, Delfzijl and Emmen. The company is currently active in Zaandam, where a sustainability center is being built.
Afeer has the knowledge and space to assemble the frames
Director Albert Dun says business is going well and is pleased with the partnership with Afeer. ,,They have the space and the knowledge to assemble our frames. After they have produced those frames, they go to our company in Oude Pekela to dry for two months. Then we provide the insulation material and they are moved to the construction pit.”
While Dun is active throughout the Netherlands, according to the Pekelder director, the Northern housing associations are lagging behind in building sustainable hemp homes. “Why is that so? I don’t know, but note that it is so. Unfortunately.”
Afeer seizes the opportunity to start a carpenter training course. According to Van Dam, there is a huge demand for this. “With us, the carpenters receive a six-month training course in which, in addition to theory, practice is central. Potential carpenters get paid during their training.”