Dear Reader,

I write this newsletter because the module is the easy part of modular building. The rules around it and the money behind it decide whether a box ever gets a tenant, and they move every week, in a different country each time.

So once a week I read the new rules and the project news from across Europe and pick the few that matter to people who build or approve modular and container housing. Every story links to its source. Every story ends with my take, clearly marked, so you can see where the facts stop and my opinion starts.

This first issue is about one word.

Every country in Europe uses the word 'standard'. None of them means the same thing by it. In Germany it means what the building next door has. In Brussels it means a document that does not exist yet for modules. In France a container house can meet the 2028 carbon limit today and still count as an experiment.

That one word decides more about modular housing this week than any factory did.

Lars

On 26 October 2026 the Federal Justice Ministry, together with the Building Ministry, put out the draft law for Gebäudetyp E. Under current contract law, if the parties agree nothing specific, a building has to be built the way comparable buildings usually are. The draft adds an opt-in basic standard. Choose it, and meeting the legal requirement is enough. The ministry's own phrase is 'Genug ist genug'. Enough is enough.

Their example is ceiling height. If the technical building rules of the Länder set a storey height, that is the height you owe, even if the new build next door is taller inside and a DIN standard asks for more. Where the rules say nothing, the contractor can move away from the usual standard with a notice in text form, an email will do, and no longer has to walk the client through every risk. Fire safety, ventilation and daylight rules stay where they are. Building minister Verena Hubertz says every euro not spent on unnecessary standards is a euro for more affordable housing, and tagesschau frames the draft as a way to make new homes cheaper. Länder and associations can comment until 9 November 2026.

On 14 September 2026 IC-EUROPE, the European Association for Industrialised Construction, wrote to the Commission's DG GROW. It wants to seek a standardisation request under the new Construction Products Regulation (EU) 2024/3110 for a harmonised European standard for 3D volumetric modular construction. In the letter's words, differing national approaches 'can act as a barrier to the cross-border deployment of industrialised construction systems'.

The money side met on 20 October. More than 100 experts gathered in Brussels to launch a joint working group on financing affordable and sustainable housing. The Commission estimates Europe needs to invest around 150 billion euros more in housing every year. Over the next 18 months the group will work on funding models, and on the funding needs of innovation in construction, with modular and off-site named as the example.

In Fismes, in the Marne, social landlord Plurial Novilia and the local firm High Cube have placed the last of seven houses built from reused shipping containers. The containers are converted in the workshop and joined into the main structure, with a timber frame fixed to the outside to carry insulation and cladding. The landlord puts the construction carbon at 473 to 476 kg CO2 equivalent per square metre depending on the house, which it says meets the RE2020 2028 threshold two years early. Delivery is planned for December 2026. The same release says the technique 'does not yet benefit from general technical recognition' in France, so the project runs through an experimental technical appraisal with SOCOTEC.

Further south, Groupe Pelletier inaugurated Le Rubix in Albertville on 9 October 2026. That is 29 homes over five levels, 168 modules placed in three weeks, nine months on site in total, in seismic zone 4.

On 20 October 2026 the Building Better Community of Practice launched a toolkit for councils on relocatable modular temporary accommodation on meanwhile-use land, sites waiting for their permanent development. The backdrop is grim. In March 2026 a record 135,580 households, including 177,530 children, were in temporary accommodation in England, and councils spent 2.93 billion pounds on it in 2025/26, much of it on hotels and B&Bs. The toolkit builds on Havering, where the council bought 18 modular family homes designed for a 60-year life that can be relocated up to five times, and on Bristol, where sites were leased to MMC Homebuilding for seven years at a peppercorn rent.

Since 27 July 2026 Irish homeowners can put a detached home of 32 to 45 square metres in the rear garden without planning permission, until the end of 2030. It must not be 'temporary in nature, such as a caravan or mobile home'. Building Regulations apply in full, the planning authority gets a notice 14 days before work starts, and the unit cannot have its own utility connections, cannot be sold separately and cannot be let short term. The Dutch SFT scheme has 178.5 million euros for 2026 and 2027, with up to 14,000 euros per self-contained flex home plus 6,000 for social management, paid to municipalities first come, first served. In Spain the Council of Ministers cleared 45 million euros from the 2027 budget on 29 September 2026 for the first grant call for the industrialisation of housing. The call itself is not published yet.

Prefab reached a record 26.7 percent of approved one- and two-family homes in Germany in the first half of 2026, 7,432 of 27,838 permits, according to the prefab association BDF. Yet the vhw found that multi-storey housing dominates the projects using the Bau-Turbo, and only 23 percent are mainly single-family homes. On 27 August 2026 the ERBUD group said it will stop investing in its modular business MOD21.

On 19 October 2026 the council majority in Hafnarfjörður, Iceland, dropped plans for 260 temporary homes in 130 modular houses built from 35 square metre modules by the Czech manufacturer KOMA MODULAR, after residents objected and the assumptions were reassessed. The town says the housing need is still there. In Lędziny, in southern Poland, 15 year-round modular social flats of about 18 and 36 square metres now have tenants, TVP reported on 13 October 2026. They cost about 1.7 million zloty, more than 740,000 of it from the GZM metropolitan union of Upper Silesia and Zagłębie. The building work was done earlier. The handover waited for technical acceptance, permits, documents and the allocation of each flat.

EU. The main part of the new Construction Products Regulation has applied since 8 January 2026. A product family moves to the new rules once its new harmonised standard is cited, and the 2011 regulation is only repealed in 2039. The Commission's summary says harmonised technical specifications are now exhaustive, so EU countries may not demand extra characteristics, tests or certifications on top. Notified bodies have until 8 January 2030 to meet the stricter requirements.

England. The Future Homes and Buildings Standards come into force on 24 March 2027, and on 24 September 2027 for higher-risk buildings. A new requirement, L3, asks for on-site renewable electricity in new homes.

Sweden. Since 1 July 2026 builders can no longer choose the old BBR and EKS rules, and a new energy statute has applied since 1 October 2026. Boverket's new regulations are performance-based and no longer refer to specific standards.

Poland. Since 1 September 2026 a new zoning decision, the WZ, is in principle blocked in municipalities that have no general plan in force, a legal guide on the change explains. Modular and container homes are not automatically exempt. Single-family houses of up to 70 square metres of built-up area have a special procedure.

Germany. Baden-Württemberg's building code reform, in force since 28 June 2025, added a type approval for structures built to the same design at several locations. It also brought a deemed permit after three months and cut neighbour participation from four weeks to two.

Spain. The Plan Estatal de Vivienda 2026-2030 has 7,000 million euros. New public or public-private homes get up to 85,000 euros each, and up to 8,500 more when industrialised techniques are used, so up to 93,500. In a stressed housing market zone another 8,500 takes it to 102,000 per home.

Ireland. The government set a target that at least 25 percent of all new social and affordable homes are built with modern methods of construction. Local authorities received 94 million euros to clear old land debts, on condition that they start building with MMC immediately.

EU. The European Affordable Housing Plan, presented on 16 December 2025, came with a Strategy for Housing Construction that promotes offsite and modular construction. It also announced a new Pan-European Investment Platform with the European Investment Bank, and revised State aid rules so social and affordable housing can be supported without prior notification to the Commission.

England. Legal & General's modular homes business has closed its factory as part of its wind-down. In its 2025 financial year it handed over 102 homes, up from 20, on revenue of 26.3 million pounds, and still made an operating loss of 8 million pounds.

Germany. Berlin's Senate building department awarded a school built as a container complex to FAGSI Vertriebs- und Vermietungs-GmbH for 12,418,802.44 euros, on price alone. The job is 300 containers over three storeys, with kitchen and specialist room fit-out. The decision was taken on 31 July 2026 and published on 9 October.

Poland. THE FLAG Group opened a bathroom module factory in Krzeczów near Krakow on 15 October, about 7,000 square metres, and renamed the business from BATH 2.0 to MODULYN. The bathrooms leave the factory complete with plumbing, electrics and fittings, each one tested for watertightness, and they are now sold to outside developers of flats, hotels, student housing and senior living.

UK and EU. Arup and Queen's University Belfast have launched NuBau Labs, a Horizon Europe project worth 4 million euros with a pilot hub on the Thames in East London, where salvaged concrete and steel are tested, certified and remanufactured into components for new buildings. First up is ReVault, an Arup floor system made from reclaimed concrete, with 70 percent less embodied carbon than a conventional floor according to the release.

Germany. For the first time, GROPYUS is selling components of its building system as a stand-alone product, large prefabricated timber elements from its automated factory in Richen. The first customer is the Strenger Group, for 90 townhouses and semi-detached homes in Munich-Lochhausen, and the elements suit buildings of up to three storeys in timber or timber-concrete hybrid.

Belgium. Skilpod put one of its LVL timber housing modules on the stand at PREFAB 2026 in 's-Hertogenbosch, 6 to 8 October. The modules leave the factory about 95 percent finished and can be combined freely into houses or apartment buildings of up to five storeys.

About 101,700 euros. What the municipality of Reimerswaal in Zeeland pays per unit for 53 modular homes and one shared facility building, 5.39 million euros excluding VAT, awarded to Van den Nagel Modulaire Bouw on price alone after nine bids. Used and renovated modules were allowed. The division is mine, and the facility building is inside it.

1,500. New social homes on 36 sites across 13 Irish local authorities that now use MMC under the Accelerated Delivery Programme.

Friday 30 October. Comments close on Tirol's draft Baurechts-Deregulierungsgesetz 2026. It changes five laws with 27 reliefs, most of them for existing buildings, including the option to go below the minimum room height there. The Land government wants the Landtag to pass it this year.

Open public notices for modular, container and prefab buildings, each checked against the official notice on 26 October 2026. Times are Central European Time unless the notice gives another zone. A value appears only where the notice states one.

• EU. The European Union Agency for Asylum wants prefabricated modular units for purchase and lease, plus services, as framework contracts with up to six contractors, estimated at 83 million euros. Deadline 3 Nov 2026, 16:00.
• Germany. Bezirksregierung Münster, framework for general contractors building refugee accommodation in container construction across North Rhine-Westphalia, estimated at 243 million euros, requests to participate by 17 Nov 2026, 10:00.
• Germany. Die Autobahn GmbH des Bundes, framework for delivering and setting up welfare containers including groundworks and utility connections, 6 Nov 2026, 14:00.
• Germany. The Federal Ministry of Defence through its building administration, WC and shower containers for a construction site, 10 Nov 2026, 09:00.
• Germany. Gebäudemanagement Schleswig-Holstein, purchase of a dishwashing container for the state refugee accommodation in Seeth, 16 Nov 2026, 08:30.
• Germany. Starke Projekte GmbH for the municipality of Aldenhoven, a two-storey modular office container system as interim town administration, 17 Nov 2026, 11:00.
• Spain. ENGESTUR, design and build of an industrialised social rental housing building in Badalona, 3 Nov 2026, 14:00.
• Spain. Distrito de Fuencarral-El Pardo in Madrid, lease and installation of prefabricated modules for community centres in Las Tablas, estimated at 683,589.30 euros, 3 Nov 2026, 23:59.
• Spain. CASA 47, architectural design of affordable housing at Calle Segundo Arce in Logroño, estimated at 525,074 euros, 17 Nov 2026, 13:00.
• Netherlands. Stichting Scholengemeenschap voor Vrijeschoolonderwijs, design, supply and installation of temporary school accommodation in Zeist, 19 Nov 2026, 09:00.
• Netherlands. ProRail, framework for modular, circular buildings that house rail technical installations, 12 Nov 2026, 12:00.
• Belgium. Gemeente Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, purchase of containers to house a Chiro youth group, including the environmental permit, 16 Nov 2026, 11:00.
• Denmark. Danmarks Tekniske Universitet, relocatable office pavilions for DTU Risø and DTU Lyngby, estimated at 20 million Danish kroner, 3 Nov 2026, 10:00.
• Denmark. Danmarks Fængsler, temporary pavilions for pre-release places, built and then leased for five years, estimated at 13.5 million Danish kroner, 11 Nov 2026, 12:00 UTC.
• Norway. Øvre Romerike Innkjøpssamarbeid, framework for modular buildings for the Øvre Romerike municipalities, 2 Nov 2026, 11:00 UTC.
• Norway. Forsvarsbygg, hire of a modular office building at Bardufoss camp with a purchase option, 16 Nov 2026, 11:00 UTC.
• Sweden. Luftfartsverket, framework for free-standing technical buildings, estimated at 5.5 million Swedish kronor, 23 Nov 2026, 22:59 UTC.
• France. Département du Finistère, rental and installation of modular buildings for the canteen of the Coat Mez collège in Daoulas, 23 Nov 2026, 12:00 UTC+2 as published.
• France. Communauté de Communes Val de Gray, five light leisure homes for the Colombière campsite in Pesmes, 16 Nov 2026, 12:00 UTC+2 as published.
• France. The tourism board of Carcans, factory-built mobile modular units or mobile homes to house seasonal staff, 3 Nov 2026, 12:00 UTC+2 as published.
• France. Ville de Caen, wooden chalets, mainly for its Christmas market, tendered again, 10 Dec 2026, 12:00.
• Poland. The Silesian branch of the Polish Red Cross in Katowice, supply, installation and fitting of transportable container modules under the national civil protection programme, 3 Nov 2026, 11:00.

Thanks for reading. If this was useful, please forward it to anyone who builds, buys or approves modular housing. You can also connect with me through the links below, and if you have a question, just hit reply. I read every message.

Best regards,
Lars