MOD21 – a company belonging to the ERBUD Group – wants to support Polish local governments in implementing construction projects using funds from the National Recovery Plan (KPO). Time is limited, but the company claims that it can deliver a school or kindergarten for use within as little as six months.
By 2030, Poland has nearly PLN 400 billion available from the KPO, of which the first €60 billion must be spent by the end of 2026. While France, Spain, and Italy have already spent over half of their allocations, Poland, due to delays in receiving payments, must hurry to avoid losing the funds. "In traditional building construction, it typically takes 18 months from groundbreaking to handing over the keys, not counting the design and permit stages. In prefabricated modular wooden construction, only six months may pass from contract signing to completion," says Bartosz Wiśniewski, Vice President of MOD21. "We offer ready to build structures where the design is already done – you just need to choose the intended use and the building's size," he adds.
Until now, MOD21 has directed all its production to the German market. The strategic shift comes in response to time pressures associated with spending KPO funds. "It’s time for Poland, as following the release of KPO funds, we received many inquiries from local governments looking for ways to spend the funds quickly within the first budgetary period. These inquiries mainly considered educational facilities like schools, kindergartens, dormitories, social housing, or expanding healthcare clinics," explains Bartosz Wiśniewski.
MOD21 launched its concept promotion at the Polish Construction Congress in Warsaw. Attendees could try out a machine similar to those used for buying drinks or snacks. Instead of those, the shelves featured symbolic wooden models of basic MOD21 building types in three sizes – S, M, and L. Each model included a QR code that linked directly to the MOD21 website, which is ready to execute such projects at a rapid pace.
"With this event at the congress, we wanted to showcase the simplicity of our concept. You just pick one of our ready-made designs, hit 'build,' and get it done by the end of 2026, taking a lot of the headaches off your shoulders. It was also meant to highlight the need to change current rules in Poland that exclude modular construction from many tenders," says Bartosz Wiśniewski.
Prefabrication is becoming increasingly popular in Europe. It is not only significantly less time-consuming but also much more environmentally friendly.
"Our activity in the modular segment is inherently highly eco-friendly. I’m referring not only to our zero-emission production facility, which runs entirely on green energy, but especially to our carbon-negative product (wood absorbs CO₂ as it grows) - our modules. Moreover, the modules can be disassembled, refurbished, and reused, or recycled, which is a perfect example of a circular economy," Bartosz Wiśniewski points out. The Polish ESG Association awarded the "ESG Innovator" title to a carbon emissions calculator for wooden and traditional construction, which is available for free on the mod21.pl website.
MOD21 was founded on November 21, 2021, at 21:21. A year later, the most modern factory of its kind in Europe (with an area of 21,000 m²) was opened in Ostaszewo near Toruń. The first project, completed in just five months, was a kindergarten for 60 children in Eisingen (Baden-Württemberg), equipped with a modern heat pump, a photovoltaic installation on the roof, and a decentralized ventilation system ensuring heat recovery. MOD21 has completed seven projects in total, including two refugee accommodation facilities for the city of Munich, valued at PLN 44 million and PLN 37.8 million respectively.