R<THINK CCF

In addition to the production of construction site housing, Brouwer focuses with Brouwer Prefab on the production of a unique proprietary prefabricated interior wall system for serial housing construction.

The world around us is constantly changing. Sustainability, smart handling of labor shortages and improved efficiency are important themes for today's construction companies. Those same themes are our guiding principles when designing precast interior walls. Sustainable, faster, lower costs and less waste.

R<THINK, efficient and user friendly

In today's market, an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is essential and a low MKI score is a determining factor for our customers. Thanks to R<THINK, we are able to prepare LCAs ourselves, leading to significant savings in time and costs. Moreover, it provides us with the knowledge needed to make our products more sustainable. This initiates a domino effect in which our suppliers are also encouraged to take sustainable steps.

The R<THINK environmental software is extremely user friendly, but requires the necessary theoretical knowledge. Proactively sharing R<THINK's knowledge and expertise ensures that we further develop and broaden our skills, knowledge and expertise in the field of LCAs. An extremely pleasant and constructive cooperation.

Brouwer is the first Klein Group member to start performing LCAs using R<THINK. But R<THINK provides also opporunities for other companies within the Klein Group, including Rc Panels (facade elements).

More control over contract awarding

Heijmans are the creators of a good living environment where we can live healthy, work healthy and move about in a healthy way. Heijmans accomplishes this by preventing resource depletion and parting with waste. And by choosing healthy materials and reusing them as often as possible.

At Heijmans, we know the environmental impact of our structures and projects. We measure the Environmental Cost Indicator (MKI) or Environmental Performance of Buildings (MPG). For procurement products we ask suppliers for a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). For projects and construction works, we further elaborate LCAs with our suppliers. This allows us to get a hold on our environmental impact and where to reduce it.

Sustainability performance was increasingly asked for in tenders, particularly from central governmental clients but also from decentralized governmental clients (counties, municipalities). More specifically, MKI became a defining award criteria by which the sustainability of project quotations from different contractors were compared. With the lowest possible MKI value, the probability of the project being awarded to you increases. So it is not just about gaining insight into the MKI value of our products, but much more importantly about how we can improve the environmental performance of the product.

The first LCA studies cost us a great deal of time and money and we were dependent on the expertise of external consultants. With R<THiNK, we ourselves are in charge of performing our own LCA calculations. This gives us more control over the process and the ability to scale up and/or speed up where necessary. Additionally, step by step we are integrating the LCA methodology into the DNA of our company.

With the expert support of R<THiNK's LCA consultants, we have become increasingly proficient in preparing our own LCA calculations in recent years. As a result, we are able to offer projects with distinctive MKI values. By lowering our environmental impact, we maximize our chances of winning tenders.

In R<THiNK, we have performed LCA calculations for 80% of Heijmans road specialty products.
And with the help of R<THiNK, we have worked on dozens of successful MKI bids.
R<THiNK is a valuable partner with highly knowledgeable and reliable consultants who are always there for us. We have been working together successfully for many years now.

Determined to continue to lead the way in the sustainable transformation of our industry

As a manufacturer of innovative precast floor systems, VBI offers industrial customization to build the future together with all parties in the chain. Identifying and reducing the environmental impact of our products are key challenges in this regard. We do this with a broad approach through recipe optimization, recycling and reuse.

Data driven decision making

The development of sustainable products and solutions with low CO2 impact is therefore our priority and a key focus. Complex situations require a structured approach.
A first step in understanding and determining the environmental impact of our products is to make a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), using R<THiNK environmental software. R<THiNK provides insight, offers transparency and allows you to stay in control of the environmental performance of your products.

Performing our LCAs in R<THiNK helps us take a critical look at the environmental impact of our raw materials, our suppliers, our energy consumption and possible reuse of raw materials. This allows us to make informed choices about responsible, alternative raw materials and provides us with insight into CO2 reduction opportunities in our products and our production processes.

R<THiNK then automatically presents the results in an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) self declaration. A comprehensive report, ideal for easily communicating the environmental performance of our products externally to customers and other stakeholders.

VBI is determined to continue to lead the way in the sustainable change of our industry. One step at a time. R<THiNK environmental software helps us do just that. Skilled, reliable and efficient.
VBI performs LCA's for her hollow core slab flooring in the Netherlands. Additionally, R<THiNK is essential for R&D activities e.g.

• Preliminary calculation of promising optimizations

• Follow-up of environmental objectives

• Monitoring initiated actions (measuring effects)