Will ready-made walls replace your timber and concrete?

Builders are changing how they work. Instead of buying loose wood, steel, and concrete to build on-site, they want ready-made parts. These parts are built in factories and put together quickly on the building site. For building merchants, this change is a big deal. If contractors buy complete walls instead of separate materials, merchants must rethink what they keep in their warehouses.

The European construction sector is a massive economic engine. According to the CEN-CENELEC Work Programme published in 2026, the construction sector represents approximately 9% of the European Union’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and contributes 50.5% to Gross Fixed Capital Formation [5]. The sector directly employs over 18 million EU citizens and supports an additional 25 million workers across the member states [5]. However, this massive industry is undergoing a structural shift toward off-site construction, which directly impacts how building materials are bought and sold.

According to data from a USP Marketing Consultancy presentation published for EURO-MAT in June 2025, the share of prefab projects among European architects is projected to grow from 33% in 2025 to 39% by 2030 [1]. Contractors are following a similar path. The share of prefab projects among European contractors was 27% in 2024, and it is expected to rise to 35% by 2030 [1].

This transition is already highly advanced in certain regional markets. In the two years prior to May 2025, the share of prefab users among architects (representing projects containing prefab elements) had already reached 47% in the Netherlands and 23% in Germany [1]. Among contractors, the share of prefab users in those same two years prior to May 2025 was 42% in the Netherlands and 21% in Germany [1]. For merchants operating in these countries, the demand for loose, commodity-grade materials is already under pressure. When contractors shift to off-site assembly, they no longer buy individual studs, insulation rolls, and gypsum boards in the same quantities. Instead, they require pre-assembled, multi-material components.

Historically, the building materials industry has operated in strict silos. Timber merchants sold wood, steel stockholders sold beams, and concrete plants sold precast elements. These materials were governed by separate technical rules and standards. Under the European standards framework, CEN and CENELEC develop harmonized European standards to support the Construction Products Regulation (Regulation EU 305/2011) and the new Construction Products Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2024/3110) [5]. Within this framework, different technical committees handled different materials: CEN/TC 124 is responsible for timber structures, while CEN/TC 229 governs precast concrete products [5].

The rise of hybrid structural systems is forcing these technical silos to merge. Manufacturers are designing across traditional material boundaries to deliver pre-engineered, lower-carbon solutions directly to the market [2, 3, 4]. By combining timber, concrete, and steel into unified structural elements, manufacturers can exploit the specific strengths of each material. Timber provides lightweight, low-carbon structural support; concrete offers thermal mass and acoustic insulation; steel provides high tensile strength and slim profiles.

This material integration means that structural components are increasingly arriving as unified, multi-material systems rather than isolated raw commodities. This technical convergence under unified European standards facilitates the certification and commercialization of hybrid wood-concrete elements. However, it also changes the procurement landscape. Merchants can no longer rely solely on traditional material-specific purchasing agreements. They must learn to evaluate and source complex, multi-material assemblies that carry combined performance warranties.

Why are contractors demanding these hybrid systems? The primary drivers are installation speed, labor shortages, and transport logistics. Traditional solid concrete elements are heavy, expensive to transport, and require heavy cranes on-site. Hybrid elements, such as wood-concrete sandwich walls, offer a compelling alternative by significantly reducing structural weight.

According to manufacturer data published in 2024 by Metsä Wood, a hybrid wall element developed in partnership with Heidelberg Materials Precast Contiga weighs approximately 60% less than a traditional concrete sandwich element [4]. Metsä Wood claims that this weight reduction reduces transport costs and transport-related climate impacts by approximately 50% [4]. For merchants managing their own delivery fleets, lighter materials mean more efficient transport, lower fuel consumption, and fewer delivery trips.

Further, Metsä Wood claims that this hybrid wall element, which features an outer layer of climate-improved concrete, intermediate insulation, and a load-bearing inner panel made of Kerto laminated veneer lumber (LVL), has an approximately 30-50% lower climate impact compared to an equivalent traditional concrete sandwich element [4]. The manufacturer designed this system for buildings with up to five floors, making it highly suitable for residential buildings, offices, healthcare facilities, and schools [4]. By stocking and promoting these lighter, lower-carbon alternatives, merchants can help their contractor customers meet strict project-level carbon targets while reducing their own logistical overhead.

The shift toward prefabrication and hybrid systems raises a fundamental question for merchant decision-makers: how do you protect your margins when the product mix shifts from high-volume commodities to specialized, pre-engineered systems?

If a manufacturer sells a pre-assembled hybrid wall directly to a large contractor, the merchant is bypassed entirely. To prevent this disintermediation, commercial strategies must adapt. This does not mean stocking massive, custom-engineered wall panels in your warehouse; instead, it means positioning your business as the essential logistics and coordination hub.

Managing the supply chain for hybrid systems requires a different set of capabilities than selling standard timber or cement. It involves longer lead times, precise delivery scheduling, and close coordination between manufacturers and the job site. Merchants who coordinate these complex deliveries effectively can protect their position in the value chain.

Furthermore, evaluating inventory risk becomes critical. As prefab adoption among contractors rises toward the projected 35% by 2030 [1], the demand for traditional, loose materials will inevitably decline in certain segments. Holding too much capital in slow-moving, traditional commodities while ignoring the growth in pre-engineered systems is a significant commercial risk.

To navigate this transition successfully, commercial and procurement directors should focus on three strategic areas.

First, diversify your supplier relationships. Establish partnerships with innovative manufacturers who are actively developing hybrid, multi-material systems. This ensures you have access to the latest product innovations and can offer your customers certified, high-performance alternatives to traditional materials.

Second, upgrade your sales team’s technical expertise. Selling hybrid systems requires a deeper understanding of structural performance, building physics, and environmental certifications than selling raw commodities. Your sales staff must be able to confidently discuss the technical trade-offs and installation benefits of these systems with contractors and architects.

Third, optimize your logistics services. Prefabricated and hybrid elements require “just-in-time” delivery directly to the construction site, as contractors rarely have the space or desire to store large, pre-assembled components on-site. By offering reliable, precisely timed delivery services, you can provide a vital service that manufacturers cannot easily replicate.

The transition to hybrid materials and prefabrication is not a temporary trend; it is a structural reorganization of the construction supply chain. To maintain their position in the supply chain, merchants must transition from being simple distributors of raw commodities to becoming partners in integrated structural systems.

[1] euro-mat.com — https://www.euro-mat.com/app/uploads/2025/06/Presentation-Key-trends-in-construction-2025-Euromat-Split.pdf [2] metsagroup.com — https://www.metsagroup.com/metsawood/sustainability/why-build-with-wood/hybrid-construction/ [3] puuinfo.fi — https://puuinfo.fi/2022/09/29/more-effective-and-sustainable-way-to-design-and-build-with-hybrid-slim-floor-structure-and-connections/ [4] metsagroup.com — https://www.metsagroup.com/metsawood/news-and-publications/news/2024/swedish-concrete-manufacturer-launches-low-emission-hybrid-wall/ [5] wp2026.cencenelec.eu — https://wp2026.cencenelec.eu/sectors-list/construction/