Tiny Houses to Rebuild Ukraine

Tiny House

Wageningen, October 2022

Due to the war in Ukraine, many people have suffered great losses, as already over 800.000 Ukrainian families have lost their homes. This is a problem not only now, but for the coming years. As the estmimated time to rebuild these houses will be more than 10 years. There will be many challenges, as there is a lack of job for Ukrainians, and supply chains of materials have been disrupted or destroyed. TGS is working on a solution for many of these challenges; a Tiny House, to tackle large challenges.

Prefab: Efficient & Effective

TGS cooperates with a factory in Moldova, only 30km from the Ukrainian border. This factory produces turnkey prefab (pre-fabricated) wall panels using a Dutch patented technology. These wall panels have many benefits. For example, because of the LEGO-type assembly of the houses, mounting time per complete house is limited to 2 or 3 days. Furthermore, the quality of the panels ensure high energy efficiency. As the wood and rockwool material are 6x more energy efficient than conventional brick. The panels could be easily stacked and transported to the location of construction.

Mounting of Tiny House

Mounting of Tiny House

Three houses a week

The Moldovan facotry currently has the capacity to produce 3 houses per week. The costs of a complete house including kitchen, bathroom, underfloor heating, electricity and water connection start around €35,000. The houses are currently available in three different sizes.

Moreover, after the panels have been produced and shipped, the mounting, assembly, and finishing could be done by Ukrainian workers. Boosting local employment and economy.

Kitchen

Tiny House Kitchen

Tiny House Interior

Tiny House Interior

Tiny House Bathroom

Tiny House Bathroom

Trial in Irpin

 

As trial, one Tiny house has already been placed in Irpin, a village in which almost 1,500 private homes have been destroyed due to the war. One of the destroyed houses belonged to Petro and Lilia. They recently got a new ‘tiny house’. Their house was set up as a headquarters by the occupiers because it was located on a main road. When Russian troops were forces to leave Irpin on moment of Ukrainian recapturing of the town, their home was set on fire, burned and was left behind as a ruin.

In cooperation with sponsors and partners, a tiny house with 32 m2 of living space was built for the couple. A crane lifted the housing parts into place on the foundation. In early September, the key transfer was held and Petro and Lilla moved in. TGS aims to rebuild dozens of these types of houses because it is quick and cheap and the residents are well protected into the winter, because of the high insulation value of their new compact home.