Agenda de l'Europe modulaire
Connecter l'industrie de la construction modulaire en Europe et dans le monde
Qu'il s'agisse de logements abordables ou de pratiques de construction durable, la construction modulaire est à la pointe de l'industrie du bâtiment en matière de solutions aux défis mondiaux d'aujourd'hui. Rejoignez MBI et les acteurs de la construction modulaire du monde entier à l'occasion de cet événement incontournable qu'est World of Modular.
Ne manquez pas cette occasion d'apprendre de certains des experts les plus influents de l'industrie mondiale de la construction modulaire et d'entrer en contact avec eux.
Day 1 - Opening Address & Reception
5:00pm - 6:00pm Opening Plenary
6:00pm - 8:00pm Networking Reception with Exhibitors
Session Descriptions
AI Data-Driven Modular Factories: Strategy Before Technology
Tim Crowe, CEO, WrxFlo
Modular manufacturers are under pressure to deliver more projects, faster, with fewer resources and tighter margins. Many digital initiatives fail because they start with tools rather than a clear operational strategy.
This session draws on practical lessons from modular, offsite, and construction factories that have used data and digital platforms to reduce lead times, increase on-time delivery, and gain real-time visibility from design through installation. It delivers practical insights on:
- Defining a digital vision that directly links operational bottlenecks to measurable goals.
- Identifying the critical data points across design, factory, site, and supply chain needed for proactive project management.
- Building a phased roadmap that delivers quick wins while scaling toward a fully connected factory.
- Engaging factory teams, installers, and partners, so digital tools become part of daily decision-making.
Attendees will leave with a scalable framework for connecting siloed systems and factory data, and clear priorities for investing in the right digital capabilities to support growth without adding complexity.
Beyond Thermal Performance: Insulation Materials & Whole-Building Impacts
Frédéric Bonnefoy, Group Product Manager, Knauf Insulation
Insulation is often assessed by thermal performance alone, but material choice also affects an assembly’s whole-life carbon footprint, acoustic performance, fire safety, and building indoor air quality. These factors are important in the decision-making process for their long-term impact on building performance.
This session examines how different insulation materials perform across these dimensions and delivers practical insights on:
- How insulation choice affects whole-life carbon footprint across different assembly types.
- The relationship between insulation materials and indoor air quality over time.
- Trade-offs between thermal, acoustic, and fire safety performance within a single system.
Attendees will leave with clear criteria for evaluating insulation materials on both immediate performance and long-term building health.
Building Circularity In: What the EU's Circular Economy Act Means for Modular Construction
Alex van der Laan, Policy Director, MBI Europe
James Hammersley, Regulatory Affairs Manager, MBI Europe
The EU's upcoming Circular Economy Act (CEA) aims to strengthen the market for circular products and secondary materials, reduce resource dependency, and support a more competitive, resource-efficient European economy. Modular construction is well positioned to contribute to these goals through material efficiency, reduced waste, design for disassembly, and the reuse and refurbishment of building components.
This interactive session will provide an overview of the CEA and explore what it could mean for the modular industry. The discussion will explore:
- How modular construction can help advance the goals of the CEA.
- Where modular's inherent advantages in resource efficiency, adaptability, disassembly, and reuse align with EU priorities.
- How MBI can position modular construction as a leading solution within Europe's circular economy.
- What policy outcomes the modular industry should advocate for as the legislation develops.
- How the industry can demonstrate and communicate its circularity benefits to policymakers and other stakeholders.
Attendees will help shape MBI's advocacy priorities and identify opportunities to ensure modular construction has a strong voice in the EU's evolving circular economy agenda.
Building, Financing & Operating: A Blueprint for Scaling Modular Housing
Remco Boer, Director, BPD SmartBuilds
Nicole Maarsen, Innovation & Scaling-Up in Housing Construction Governance Lead, Ministry of Housing and Spatial Planning
Charlotte Meulenbelt, Senior Project Developer, Flex Housing, Ymere
Michiel Gieben, Head of Sales & Marketing, Daiwa House Modular Europe
Geert Dirkse, Sectormanager Bouw en Circulariteit, Rabobank
Franco Vietti, Strategic Advisor Modular and Industrialized Construction, Green Prefab
BPD SmartBuilds has developed one of Europe's most unique and replicable modular housing programs: 20 active projects, growing towards 500 homes a year in the middle rent sector, supported by a fully integrated capital, development, and operations model spanning institutional finance, land strategy, and off-site manufacturing across multiple factories.
Join this session to unpack how this model addresses the critical barriers to scale. Attendees will learn the core strategy behind the model, hear from experts across finance, social housing, manufacturing, and government and gain actionable insights into:
- How the model is structured across land, finance, delivery, and operation.
- What institutional lenders require to finance large-scale modular programs.
- Effective partnership models with social housing corporations as capital and demand partners.
- The manufacturer’s role and the standardization needed to deliver at scale.
- How relocatable homes turn circularity into a financial advantage, preserving capital value while reducing waste and embodied carbon.
Attendees will leave with a clear, transferable framework for moving from pilot projects to repeatable, investable, and operationally sound modular housing programs across European markets.
Building the Automation Roadmap for Volumetric Construction
Ola Skoglund, Chief Operating Officer, Randek
As volumetric modular construction scales, manufacturers are turning to automation to boost capacity, improve quality, and reduce reliance on manual labor. Yet automation only delivers strong returns when implemented in the right sequence and supported by a clear product strategy, optimized factory flow, and organizational readiness.
Drawing on lean production and advanced manufacturing expertise, this session delivers a practical, step-by-step automation roadmap for volumetric production. Attendees will gain actionable insights into:
- Identifying high-impact opportunities by analyzing bottlenecks, product mix, line configuration, material flow, logistics, skills, and maintenance needs.
- Prioritizing automation investments effectively.
- Avoiding the common pitfall of automating poorly designed manual processes.
- Evolving roles, skills, and leadership to support stable, high-uptime operations.
This approach ensures automation translates into measurable long-term business value.
Designing Across a Border: How 100+ Timber Modules Went from Concept to Construction
Andrey Maznikov, CEO, Modulmatik GmbH
Andriy Lemishko, CTO, Modulmatik GmbH
ALIA is a nearly 10,000 m² timber modular development in Bavaria combining housing, care facilities, a kindergarten, premium apartments, a conference and community hall, and a church into one cohesive neighborhood, engineered as more than 100 turnkey modules and manufactured in Estonia.
This session presents a design-engineering case study for offsite construction and delivers practical insights on:
- Translating a complex, multi-typology building program into one coherent modular design without losing architectural or functional intent.
- How design engineering bridges a cross-border supply chain from concept through shop-floor documentation.
- Where standardization holds and where it breaks down across 100+ non-repeating modules.
- Managing interfaces, transport, and assembly constraints at this scale.
Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of how a design-engineering office bridges an architect's vision, a factory's production capacity, and a client's mixed-use program across borders.
Digital Product Passports: Shaping MBI's Position for Modular Construction
Alex van der Laan, Policy Director, MBI Europe
James Hammersley, Regulatory Affairs Manager, MBI Europe
The revised Construction Products Regulation (CPR) introduces the Digital Product Passports (DPPs) to improve transparency, traceability, and sustainability across the construction value chain. For modular building manufacturers, the DPPs could provide an important opportunity to demonstrate the advantages of offsite construction, from material traceability and circularity to component reuse.
In this interactive session, MBI will present its emerging position on DPPs and invite members to help shape the modular industry’s approach. The discussion will explore:
- What information should be captured for modular buildings, modules, and components.
- How manufacturers can align around common data requirements.
- How DPPs could support traceability, circularity, reuse, and other advantages of modular construction.
- What steps are needed to move toward greater standardization across the modular sector.
- What the industry needs from policymakers to support practical implementation.
Attendees will have an opportunity to directly inform MBI's position and help identify priorities for engagement with European policymakers, including MBI's dialogue with DG GROW on the implementation of Digital Product Passports in construction.
From Projects to Products: Building a Global Modular Ecosystem
Daniel Pollard, Executive Operations Manager, Spacemaker KSA
What does it take to move modular construction from individual projects and factories to a truly integrated, scalable manufacturing ecosystem?
Drawing on more than 25 years of international modular and offsite manufacturing experience, this session explores how design, digital technology, supply chain, procurement, manufacturing, logistics, and site installation can operate as one connected system.
Through practical examples and lessons from real manufacturing environments, the session will examine how modular businesses can:
- Apply DfMA and kit-of-parts principles to simplify production and improve repeatability.
- Use digital twins and connected data to create a digital thread from design through installation.
- Integrate pre-manufactured components and sub-assemblies without adding unnecessary complexity to the production line.
- Balance standardization and repeatability with the customer choice the market demands.
- Connect design, supply chain, manufacturing, logistics, and installation into a more efficient delivery model.
- Shift from project-led construction toward scalable, product-led manufacturing.
Attendees will gain practical insights into what has worked, what has not, and how greater integration can help modular businesses increase volume, improve predictability, and scale without sacrificing flexibility or customer value.
From Skepticism to Buy-In: Overcoming the Six Biggest Barriers to Modular Construction
Harro Grimmer, Architect and Managing Partner, ProjektPuls GmbH
Despite its proven advantages, modular construction is often overlooked in favor of conventional building methods. Many project owners recognize the potential benefits of modular, yet key concerns and misconceptions continue to prevent adoption during the critical early stages of project planning.
This session examines six of the most common barriers to modular adoption:
- Perceived cost premiums and budget constraints
- Upfront financing and cash flow requirements
- Resistance to early contractor involvement
- The need for rapid project decisions
- Concerns about flexibility and late-stage changes
- Limited understanding of modular's full value proposition
Through real-world examples and industry experience, attendees will gain a deeper understanding of how owners, developers, planners, and contractors evaluate modular solutions—and why projects often default to traditional delivery methods.
Attendees will leave with practical strategies to address common objections, communicate value more effectively, and position modular construction as the preferred solution from the earliest stages of project development.
How Institutional Capital Can Scale Industrialized Housing
Ruben Bos, CFA, Head of Real Estate Investment Strategy, Europe, DWS
Industrialized construction has the potential to help address Europe’s housing shortage, but scaling delivery requires more than manufacturing capacity. Success depends on aligning developers, institutional investors, municipalities, and industry around viable financing, land availability, and effective delivery models.
Join this discussion-led session to explore how public and private stakeholders can collaborate to unlock land, capital, and deliver capacity to scale industrialized housing across Europe.
Attendees will gain practical insights into:
- The role of developers, investors, and municipalities in scaling delivery.
- How public-private partnerships can unlock land, capital, and development opportunities.
- The factors that make industrialized housing investable and scalable.
- Practical approaches to accelerating housing supply across Europe.
Industrialized Renovation: Has It Delivered on Its Promise for Europe’s Housing Stock?
Julien Dijol, Head of Policy and Deputy Secretary-General, Housing Europe
Julien will explore whether industrialized and modular renovation has lived up to its promise as a scalable solution for decarbonizing Europe's affordable housing stock.
Drawing on fifteen years of experience since the launch of the Energiesprong approach, he will examine the real achievements — faster delivery, significantly improved energy performance, and minimal disruption for residents — as well as the persistent barriers that have slowed widespread adoption.
This opening address will argue that successful industrialized renovation goes far beyond mass production. It requires the development of coordinated local ecosystems, with aligned governance, innovative financing, robust supply chains, and territorial strategies to unlock its full potential.
Making Modular Construction Work at Scale in Europe
Lars Hartman, CEO, Verkstadsbolaget
Doubling or tripling factory output usually means adding capacity. This session presents a real case where output nearly tripled, from 14 modules a week at 187 staff-hours per module to 42 modules a week at 94 staff-hours per module, without a proportional increase in resources.
The session breaks down the lean production strategies behind these gains, including:
- Timber handling and how material flow feeds the production line.
- Offline versus online assembly, including the trade-offs of each approach.
- Layout settings and how they’re adjusted to match capacity demands.
- Gaining workforce buy-in and successfully managing change on the factory floor.
Attendees will leave with practical strategies for identifying bottlenecks, improving productivity, and unlocking greater capacity without compromising quality or safety.
Making Modular Construction Work at Scale in Europe
Pieter Schoofs, Managing Director, Skilpod
Modular construction promises speed, quality, and cost certainty, but scaling it successfully across Europe — particularly in the Netherlands and Benelux — is more challenging than most pitch decks suggest. Drawing on real project experience, this session provides a practical assessment of what it takes to scale modular delivery.
Attendees will gain practical insights into:
- Navigating local barriers (slow permitting, fragmented regulation, financing) while capitalizing on strong demand drivers (housing shortages, sustainability targets, labor gaps).
- Making framework agreements with developers and housing partners work through early involvement and genuine volume commitment.
- Shifting product strategy by balancing standardization for factory efficiency with the customization levels buyers expect.
MBI Europe: Turning European Policy into Industry Opportunity
Alex van der Laan, Policy Director, MBI Europe
James Hammersley, Regulatory Affairs Manager, MBI Europe
Europe's modular construction market is poised for growth, driven by housing shortages, labor constraints, decarbonization goals, and demand for faster, more efficient project delivery. At the same time, fragmented regulations, inconsistent standards, and evolving EU policies continue to shape how modular construction can scale across borders.
This session will examine the European market and policy landscape and explore how MBI Europe is working to strengthen industry representation, reduce barriers, create opportunities, and position modular construction as a strategic solution to Europe's housing, sustainability, and competitiveness challenges.
Attendees will gain insight into the policy developments shaping the industry, MBI Europe’s advocacy priorities, the value of having a strong industry voice in Brussels, and how to get involved.
Scaling Modular Through Standards: What’s Happening Globally?
Ryan Colker, Executive Director, Energy, Resilience & Innovation, International Code Council
Matthew Egan, Chair, BSI CB/301, British Standards Institution
Can greater standardization help modular and offsite construction scale across borders? Standards development is accelerating in the United States, the United Kingdom, through ISO, and in other markets, with significant implications for the global modular industry.
This session brings together experts directly involved in national and international standards development and delivers insights on:
- How standards can support the growth and scalability of modular and offsite construction.
- Approaches to standardization across the U.S., UK, ISO, and other markets.
- How greater alignment could support modular projects across jurisdictions and international markets.
- Opportunities for industry professionals to participate in and influence standards development.
- How emerging standards can address current barriers, improve consistency, and support the global growth of modular construction.
Solving the Dutch Housing Crisis: How Government, Housing Corporations & Manufacturers Are Scaling Flex Housing
Charlotte Meulenbelt, Senior Project Developer, Flex Housing, Ymere
Marnix van der Dussen, Senior Project Manager, Area Development, Municipality of Amsterdam
The Netherlands is facing its most severe housing shortage in nearly 80 years. A changing population, the rise of single-person households, and a decade of underbuilding have created a shortage of approximately 450,000 homes. In response, the Dutch government has launched initiatives to accelerate housing production. One key instrument is flex housing: temporary, modular homes built primarily for the social rental sector, developed and delivered at speed.
This session unpacks the Dutch flex housing model and delivers practical insights on:
- Its structure and adaptability across sites and settings.
- How flex housing integrates into municipal and housing-corporation strategies for urban development and sustainability.
- Collaboration mechanisms that unlock delivery.
- Government support tools used to stimulate flex housing production.
- How public-sector leadership, housing-corporation partnerships, and long-term framework agreements shift modular housing from one-off projects to scalable programs.
Attendees will leave with transferable lessons on adapting elements of the Dutch approach for other European and global cities facing similar pressures.
Thinking Outside the Box: Engineering & Design Beyond the Module
Michael Hough, Owner/Director, MJH Structural Engineers
Modular buildings don't stand alone. Every module depends on the structure, ground conditions, and construction sequence around it, and those factors are often where projects run into challenges. This session draws on direct project experience to unpack the engineering considerations that sit outside the module itself.
Attendees will gain practical insights on:
- Transfer structures and the requirements they place on the design.
- Foundation and settlement analysis, including the impacts of tunnelling.
- Deflection sensitivity across different materials.
- Preload systems, balconies, and other site-specific design solutions.
Participants will leave with practical guidance for taking modular construction upward or onto more technically demanding sites.
Timber Modular Construction in Europe: Building for Moisture Resilience
Daniel Meiners, Business Development Manager Prefab & Modular, ARDEX Group
As timber modular construction expands across Europe, effective moisture management has become essential to delivering high-quality, durable buildings while maximizing factory efficiency. This session explores how integrated moisture protection strategies support industrialized timber construction from design through manufacturing and installation.
Through project examples and real-world case studies, attendees will leave with actionable insights into best practices, key challenges and innovative approaches that support safe, sustainable, and scalable timber modular construction across Europe.
Unlocking Modular Potential: Leveraging AI at the Concept Stage
Stuart Marshall, directeur des ventes mondiales, Stack Modular
The fate of any modular project is largely determined at the concept stage. Unlike traditional construction, modular design requires strict Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) parameters to be locked in early—leaving little room for error. Traditional feasibility studies, however, are often too slow to match the pace of competitive real estate opportunities.
Join this session to explore how artificial intelligence and generative design are transforming the earliest phases of modular building. Attendees will discover how AI-driven tools instantly analyze site constraints, optimize spatial layouts for factory production, and evaluate thousands of financial and structural permutations in minutes.
Attendees will gain practical insights on:
- How generative AI integrates DfMA constraints into early-stage architectural concepts.
- Accelerating project bidding and securing by shortening the concept and feasibility phase.
- Using AI-driven modeling to flag financial, structural, or logistical issues before costly redesigns occur.
By applying AI at the very beginning of the project lifecycle, developers, manufacturers, and other stakeholders can reduce risk, improve material efficiency, accelerate decision-making and unlock the true scalability of modular construction.
What is Industrialized Construction? Digital Systems, New Business Models & Future Advancements
Dr. Daniel Hall, Associate Professor and Chair of Innovative and Industrialized Construction, Delft University of Technology
Industrialized construction is often misunderstood as simply modular building or factory production. In reality, it is a comprehensive strategy that integrates digital workflows, Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA), logistics, platform thinking, supply chains, and sustainable business models into a coordinated ecosystem.
Drawing on 15 years of international research and real-world examples from the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, and the United States, the session explains why some systems scale successfully while others stay at the pilot stage.
Attendees will gain practical insights on:
- Organizational and technological factors that drive success.
- Business model strategies, including platform and product-based approaches.
- How digital systems, DfMA, logistics, and manufacturing principles interact across the value chain.
- Emerging trends shaping the future, including AI-enabled workflows, automation, and mass customization.
Meet the Modular Building Industry
in Amsterdam
Mövenpick Hotel Amsterdam City Centre
Piet Heinkade 11
1019 BR Amsterdam
The Netherlands