[+] Floors in Days: German Tech Takes Prefab to New Heights

A German software engineer has invented a process that will put up a nine-storey residential building, with 54 apartments and a gross floor area of just under 4200sq m, in about three months. And Gropyus AG’s co-founder and chief technical officer Philipp Erler has the building to prove it. In March last year the Vienna-based company completed its nine-storey prototype—variously known as “Gropyus Building #00001” and “Im Wohnpark Nette 6”—on the banks of the river Nette, about 15km from Koblenz in Germany’s west. This week in Melbourne, several hundred delegates to the annual convention of Building 4.0 CRC—an industry-led research initiative co-funded by the Australian government—were given a glimpse into what Gropyus AG calls a Building Operating System, and how it may well be a solution to this country’s housing crisis. In truth, the convention was told, the proof-of-concept project took a lot longer to put up. That three-month boast did not include the building’s concrete foundations. And at the time, Germany’s regulations decreed the building’s stairwell and lift-core also be made of concrete. That added six months to the process. “But when we came with our parts from the factory we built the ground floor in two weeks,” Erler said. ▲ Philipp Erler and Gropyus Building #00001: Later versions will be built in around three months. “And then we started to rack them, floor by floor.” “The last two floors were erected in a total of one week, so that’s two days per floor, plus a little bit of equipment changeover in between.” Since then, German regulations have eased, and it is now possible to build lifts and stairways from wood. And while Building #00001 has 22 per cent less embodied carbon than a traditional build, with the concrete core gone Erler says they expect to get that reduction to as much as 40 per cent. “The government now understands that particularly for ceiling slabs, elevator and stairway courses, you can also use wooden material,” he says. “And that’s very helpful for us, since it’s faster if everything can be made out of the same elements in one assembly flow.” And it’s that assembly flow back in one of their two factories in Germany where the digitally integrated, end-to-end magic happens. It starts with the initial building design and leads all the way to building operation. ▲ It’s all about the automation. The robots are off the shelf but Gropyus has acquired a subsidiary to build the robotic attachments. “Our software very easily pushes together a multi-family [build-to-rent] residential building design that fits your needs on a particular plot of land,” Erler told The Urban Developer after his presentation on Wednesday. “A very simple draft, something a developer usually does internally, takes half an hour. If it is a more complex plot of land, it might take a day. “This essentially cuts down your planning time from months to minutes,” he said. “Or at least the time you need from a creative point of view to make floor plans. “You can build small, larger, angled, whatever. Also, somewhat architecturally diverse buildings can be made out of this kit of parts, and then you can make sure that design, sourcing, production, assembly and operations are all done super-efficiently by integrating everything. “No longer do you have to have individual projects where you’ve tried to solve every question over and over again. We’ve developed a kit of parts, but it’s very, very flexible. “And over time AI [artificial intelligence] will help us a lot with that, once our data sets are large enough.” The software and process are fully trackable and traceable, which gives the project owner a better overview of timelines. There’s less disruption, faster delivery, it’s more efficient, bad weather doesn’t hold up production, and there are less unforeseen costs and therefore less risk. ▲ Gropyus is ramping up production with two factories, 400 staff and six locations in three different countries. “What’s also happening automatically is every single screw in a timber frame or every single staple, every single millimetre of silicone, acrylic, whatever, is already calculated,” Erler says. “I can give you an exact price, not just a price range.” And since prefabricated cable trusses are assembled by lay-people back in the factory, the officially registered tradesmen only come to the building site to make the connection to mains power. Automation and software are the bones of the company. Soon after it was founded, Gropyus acquired a 30-person-strong automation subsidiary. It builds robotic arms. “Essentially, we buy the industrial robots off the shelf, but what’s really important, where the value lies, is in the experience. We now build a lot of those effectors ourselves.” ▲ The company says their software allows flexibility in building design and floor plates, and artificial intelligence is set to improve upon that. Sound too good to be true? The German government doesn’t think so. In the four years since Erler and his business partner Markus Fuhrmann built the company they’ve played host to Germany’s Minister for Housing, Urban Development and Building Klara Geywitz on at least eight occasions. The latest data shows Germany has a construction backlog of 846,500 apartments. The investment community doesn’t think so either. This year the Austrian start-up announced it had raised about €100 million ($A166 million) in fresh cash from a group of investors led by Vonovia SE, Germany’s biggest landlord, bringing its total capital raising to about twice that. But perhaps most importantly, the clients are on board. Gropyus now counts 400 staff in six locations in three different countries. It has a pipeline of 38 multi-residential projects, mostly five to seven storeys. Legally, the company is listed as a general contractor but Erler shies away from traditional labels. “We market ourselves as a product company,” he says. “We are delivering a multiple-family residential product that is sustainable and affordable to residents and developers.” You are currently experiencing The Urban Developer Plus (TUD+), our premium membership for property professionals. Click here to learn more.

[+] Floors in Days: German Tech Takes Prefab to New Heights

Get the full story.

Prefab, Modular, Ready-to-Go: Construction Innovation Evolves

High-Stakes Bid to Shape Adelaide’s Next Urban Precinct

Modular Hotel Rises on Queenstown’s Steepest Site

No Template, No Shortcuts: Divya Mehta on Leadership and Scale

Old Buildings, New Appeal: Heritage Office Interest is Surging in Brisbane

Melbourne Long Lunch | Panel discussion with Tim Price, Jeremy McLeod, Katya Crema & Anne Michaels

A fireside chat with Troy Daffy | Managing Director, Silverstone Developments

Brisbane Long Lunch | Panel discussion with Rob Comiskey, Frank Licastro, Steve Laffey & Alexandra Stuart-Robertson

Sydney Long Lunch | Panel discussion with Jamie Durie, Jennifer Macquarie & Michael Romano

The Developers Who Led the Way for BtR in 2025

Greenfield Developer ID_Corp Plots $1.4bn Land Lease Play

Prefab, Modular, Ready-to-Go: Construction Innovation Evolves

Property Predictions: Nine Trends That Will Shape 2026

2026 Developer Outlook Lunch | Melbourne

2026 Developer Outlook Lunch | Brisbane

2026 Developer Outlook Lunch | Sydney