Serial and modular construction 2.0: what promises the new framework agreement of the GdW?
Even before the turbulence in the construction industry, the target of 400,000 homes per year set by the German government in the coalition agreement was not achievable. Bureaucratic hurdles, a shortage of skilled labour and financing difficulties are just some of the reasons. As early as 2018, politicians focussed on serial construction as the key to affordable housing as a concrete measure from the first Alliance for Affordable Housing 2017. The GdW framework agreement on serial and modular construction 1.0 from 2018 demonstrated that modern industrialised construction methods can achieve cost, efficiency and time benefits. With the expiry of the first framework agreement after five years in 2023, the umbrella organisation of the housing industry GdW, the Federation of the German Construction Industry and the Federal Ministry of Housing, Urban Development and Building BMWSB launched a new call for tenders, in which forward-looking concepts for serial and modular construction were once again sought.
25 concepts from 20 bidders and bidding consortia were selected in a seven-month, complex process by an expert jury with the participation of the Federal Ministry of Construction and the Federation of the German Construction Industry as well as the Federal Chamber of Architects. Among other things, the selection was based on economic criteria such as tender price, economies of scale, delivery area, delivery costs and equally weighted criteria in the quality and innovation category. Points were awarded for urban planning and design quality, functional and technical quality and ecological quality. This means that the submissions are also orientated towards future funding frameworks and sustainability requirements, e.g. from the Quality Seal for Sustainable Buildings (QNG). The major advantage of serial and modular residential construction for the organisers is the time saved by prefabricating components and entire modules, thus shortening the construction period. The framework agreement also sends a price signal to the market, as the prices stipulated in the new agreement for five years can only be adjusted on the basis of fixed material and construction price indices.
So far so good—but isn't something missing?
A position paper by the Federal Chamber of Architects BAK on serial, modular and systemic construction from September 2023, updated in March 2024, takes a constructively critical stance on this. For the BAK, ‘increasing the degree of prefabrication in residential construction—through serial or modular construction—does not in itself generate any added value. Serial and modular construction is not an end in itself, but essentially a productivity issue’. Of course, everyone involved in construction wants rapid availability and favourable prices, but also quality features that represent the goal of socially balanced and sustainable urban development and architecture as well as the consideration of the entire life cycle as a guiding principle for action. This begins with the question of the availability of building land and does not end with the requirements of climate protection for construction, which are pushed into the background under the battle cry of cost and efficiency increases. For the BAK, it is therefore necessary to ‘conduct a broad professional discussion on the potential of serial or modular construction with the aim of finding simple, durable solutions that are both sustainable and resource-efficient.’ . Let's realise and continue this at BAU 2025.