Renovation and restoration

At Ballast Nedam, several organisational units focus on the renovation and transformation of buildings. We insulate cavity walls, so less energy is lost, and we refurbish bathrooms and kitchens to provide the residents more comfort. We often add solar panels, roof insulation, double glazing, new window frames, and heat pumps to our renovation projects. This makes the home more energy-efficient and future-proof.

Our subsidiary Laudy Bouw & Ontwikkeling, focuses on renovations for housing corporations, investors and other professional clients. Laudy can transform vacant offices into homes or renovate entire apartment complexes for housing corporations. A new requirement can be met before 2023: minimum energy label B.

We take residents and animals into account

How do you perform this kind of extensive work in people's homes? Previously we could schedule two activities in one day, but nowadays, we spread this over a longer period. In addition, our teams have checklists that guarantee safety for all parties.

Bats, house sparrows and swifts sometimes live under roof tiles and in cavity walls. In these cases, we engage ecologists who take inventory of the measures we should take before the renovation work. This allows us, for example, to hang sparrow boxes in the immediate vicinity so that they can find a new home well before the breeding season starts.

The art of restoration is to make minimal adjustments. This allows us to preserve as much of the old state as possible. We try to avoid re-bricking the entire façade of old buildings; instead, we carefully remove and replace the bricks that require immediate work. As a result, you sometimes see different colours and shades in restored façades.

Sometimes we find a building that has been empty for twenty years, of which part of the roof has collapsed and with old window frames. Based on a restoration ladder, we investigate what resources are needed to restore the building. Can we reinforce the frame with filler? Or should it be more rigorous? With the expertise of our carpenters and masons, we can even bring back the authentic frame detailing.