Timber-frame care home, Zwolle
Installing a care home in just three visits
Due to long waiting lists for residential nursing care and major staff shortages in home care, more and more people are choosing to support their parents or other relatives in need of care themselves. One way of doing this is by placing a fully equipped care home on their own property, next to the main house. Several timber construction companies are responding to this demand by building modular timber-frame care homes that are fully customised and delivered complete with all installations.
In 2023, dozens of these care homes were completed, with Greenwinner providing the complete installation package. This included heating, cooling and ventilation, hot and cold water systems, PV panels, energy storage and electrical installations. For the electrical installations, the sustainable installer from Schijndel made a clear choice for Attema’s Installation 2.0 concept.
Ivo van Wolferen
Innovatiemanager & planner at Greenwinner
Modular timber frame construction
“The choice of modular timber frame construction greatly simplifies our installation work,” begins Ivo van Wolferen, innovation manager and work planner at Greenwinner. “Where it is sometimes difficult in traditional construction to fit installations into concrete or stone interior walls, timber frame construction is extremely accessible. In particular, electrical installations such as sockets and switches can be incorporated into the walls very easily and quickly, without the need for special machines such as wall slot cutters. Moreover, significant savings can be made on time and mess. Especially when the combination is made with Attema's Installation 2.0 concept.” Together with his colleague and managing partner René Smits, he explains the most important advantages of this pluggable installation concept, starting with the enormous shortage of personnel. “It is becoming increasingly difficult to find technically trained personnel with sufficient knowledge to install, connect and commission electrical installations. With Installation 2.0 this is no longer necessary. The basic principle is that technicians no longer have to reach the wires with a screwdriver or their hands. Instead of assembling; a fast way that also allows connection errors to be cleverly dealt with.”
The construction of each care home – from pouring the foundation to finishing the walls – takes approximately three months. “We only have to go to the construction site three times during those three months,” says Van Wolferen. “In the shell construction phase we plan a preparatory visit, during which we install cables in the timber-frame walls. We also drill various holes to feed cables through supports. As soon as the walls are closed, we come back to drill the holes for the various sockets and light switches, behind which a cable with a (counter) plug is already waiting for us. The fixtures are also installed at that time and fitted with stucco caps to prevent contamination and damage. In the third and final phase, the finishing frames and switches are mounted. The Attema Click-mate NXT distribution board is also installed and connected in a plug-and-play manner, after which all installations are powered up.”
About the collaboration with Attema
For the very first informal care home, Attema fully developed and discussed the Installation 2.0 concept for Greenwinner, says Michel Boekweit, project manager at Attema. “Since then, Greenwinner has been carrying out the engineering in-house. This is very easy, because approximately 90% of the electrical installations in the homes are the same.” Van Wolferen. “The last 10% concerns customization. For example, consider the number of outdoor lamps, positions of sockets and the possible use of air conditioning, which requires an extra group in the meter cupboard.” Van Wolferen and Smits are very pleased with the collaboration with Attema. “The communication is pleasant and fast. Both the project and product manager continuously keep a finger on the pulse. What goes well in our projects? Where is (extra) support needed? And do we perhaps have any suggestions for improvement?” Boekweit: “The feedback from relations such as Greenwinner is very welcome and has now led to various smart innovations. For example, we have developed a pluggable perilex system for placement under the kitchen skirting board, so that drilling is no longer necessary. Our four-pole dimming boxes and splitters are also new, with which multiple fixtures can be switched simultaneously. All these products are now a standard part of our Attema Installation 2.0 concept and are therefore available to everyone.”
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