Royal BAM Group continues its investment in off-site construction buying HSL/GNH, a supplier of prefabricated wooden facade elements
Royal BAM Group (through its subsidiary BAM Bouw en Vastgoed Specials) will acquire all shares of Houtindustrie Stam & Landman bv (HSL) and Gevelelementen Noord-Holland bv (GNH) from the current owners. The parties will not make any statements about the purchase price.
HSL and GNH are producers of complete, prefabricated wooden facade elements, and have been suppliers to Royal BAM for 25 years. Located in Heerhugowaard, the Netherlands, the combined businesses employ approximately one hundred employees, with annual turnover over €20 million.
HSL was founded in 1983 as a specialist producer of wooden window frames and doors and established Gevelelementen Noord-Holland in the mid-1990s to produce facade elements for housing projects. Both businesses have been a strategic partner of BAM’s Dutch residential division BAM Wonen for 25 years. In 2018, Royal BAM and HSL/GNH jointly invested in an innovative bricklaying robot system to clad prefabricated facade elements with brick slips for renovation projects.
Ruud Joosten, CEO Royal BAM Group nv: ‘The acquisition of our trusted partners HSL and GNH is part of the strategy that Royal BAM has set out for the coming years. This step allows us to leverage our expertise in sustainability, digitisation, modular and industrial construction activities. In the Dutch residential building market, activities are shifting from the construction site to manufacturing locations under controlled conditions. Further integrating the prefabricated modules in our innovative design and construction processes (‘conceptional building’) enables us to scale up our sustainable solutions more quickly to meet the wishes of clients and residents. In this way, Royal BAM is responding to the increasing market demand for affordable homes.’
Edward Zandbergen, managing director HSL/GNH: ‘In recent years, Royal BAM has proven itself as a reliable, innovative and collaborative partner for HSL/GNH. This transaction offers our company and employees the opportunity to develop further because Royal BAM operates in a number of geographies and wants to further grow its leading position in the Dutch housing market. Together we can ensure the continuity of our companies and safeguard the employment of our people.’
AEC Magazine thoughts on BAM acquisition
With the industry looking towards modularisation and offsite construction, Royal BAM has been investing in offsite technologies and bringing them in house. While the acquisition of a wood façade fabricator is not particularly high-tech, it will help with the drive to sustainable and low carbon buildings. Royal BAM has been successfully investing in high-end technologies like 3D printed concrete. By bringing all these various elements together, Royal BAM will have an array of in-house capabilities for component manufacture as we move towards modular construction.
Royal BAM’s 3D printed Concrete developments were documented in our article on 3D Printing in Construction.
