Eureka! Steel frame construction: the answer to all current construction issues

In 2009, Frank van Herk says he had a Eureka moment when he first encountered steel frame construction. "I thought, this is the answer to everything current in construction," he says passionately. "We are now fifteen years on and steel frame construction is gaining more and more supporters in construction. Where fifteen years ago we still had to explain the principle, we now receive targeted requests from professional parties. The concept is more current than ever!"

"The search for an alternative building system originated in 2008 when I was still a director at a large home builder," says Van Herk. "We were mainly building series houses with different materials each time, for which specific details had to be devised, and so on. The idea was to try to flatten each application, as it were, to the same kind of building system that you are familiar with as an organization and adjust the details to, without producing uniformity. So we ran into the concept of steel frame construction by accident."

Barely a year later, in 2009, the construction crisis revealed itself in full force. "There was a need for standardization, for prefabrication, for simple construction without high-quality skilled labor, because new construction was becoming unaffordable in the conventional way," Van Herk knows. "All those issues you can solve in steel frame. It can be standardized and easily detailed, while you still have very high design freedom. It is lightweight, strong and dimensionally stable. All the advantages over traditional construction methods come together in this material. But why didn't I know it? At the time, I had been walking around in construction for 22 years. Why was this so in its infancy in our country, when it is a more than accepted and respected building system worldwide? It was a crisis, so an opportunity. I decided to step in and founded C3 steel frame construction, firmly believing that I would get building Holland behind me and more people would experience such a Eureka moment."

It has taken a while, but by now the penny has dropped in the construction industry, according to Van Herk. "Steel frame construction is gaining a foothold and has the wind at its back. Other building systems are certainly not bad, but I believe it could be an alternative for almost any proposition. It should always be factored into the choice of building system. It also combines perfectly with other building materials and adds an extra dimension to the application possibilities. We are now so far into the matter and standardizing and making the system "hufterproof" that almost anyone can use it. It does not require high-end craftsmanship. I am amazed time and again when I see that in serial housing construction a facade brick is bricked around, that profiles have to be set manually in the work. That is outdated. This way of working is nice if you are going to restore a mill or an old long-gabled farmhouse, but not for the challenges we all face now."

C3 steel frame construction engineers everything in-house under KOMO label and generates production files from the 3D models. "With these we control the machines of our regular suppliers," Van Herk explains. "This is where we make elements in-house ranging for a luxury villa, serial housing construction to an apartment building. But also optics and gable end elements for high-rise buildings. We can demonstrate that topping in steel frame 15-20% can be cheaper than in the traditional way. At that level, we have completed a number of appealing projects. Projects that competitors and other (prefab) builders have given up on, we take up with full conviction, such as the transformation of the Pastoor van Arskerk in Delft, the Kristalhuis in Amersfoort and the Diamond House in the Bahamas. We gladly enter into discussions with engineers, architects, structural engineers and contractors, have an extensive library of details at our disposal and are happy to think along in a suitable steel-frame solution."