Royal HaskoningDHV

New housing Royal HaskoningDHV in Amsterdam

The background

Copper8 helped Royal HaskoningDHV with its new housing in Amsterdam. The result? A new office that generates as much energy as it’s using, which was built with as many circular materials as possible and where it’s also very enjoyable to work.

Context

Royal HaskoningDHV is an international engineering and consulting firm. With 7,000 consultants worldwide, they work on solutions that make a positive contribution to our living environment. The company was looking for a new accommodation for its Amsterdam branch. It had to be an existing building, the end result had to be in line with Royal HaskoningDHV’s identity and, above all, it had to support the company’s mission: enhancing society together. Copper8 led the project within the innovation program Kantoor vol Energie.

The question

Guide us through the selection process for a partner who can find us a new office location in Amsterdam, who can create our accommodation in line with all our ambitions, and who wants to operate the office for 5 years.

Current situation and future

Royal HaskoningDHV had some clear requirements for this request. The total area of the building had to be around 1,500-1,800 m2 and it had to be located near an intercity station. After development, the office had to provide a healthy workplace for 180 employees, be energy neutral, multifunctional in use and built with as many circular materials as possible. The selected partner would need to enter into a 5-year operating contract with Royal HaskoningDHV.

The process

We first helped Royal HaskoningDHV to formulate the request: they did not want a concrete property, but a partner who had to find the building, then develop it and then operate it. In collaboration with Alba Concepts, we approached eight parties, three of which were selected for the dialogue phase. Together with the parties selected, we then fleshed out the request. It was not an easy task, because of the breadth of the request: search for a property, develop it and then run it too. Furthermore, an owner/investor could have a lot of influence on the project’s energy neutral and circular goals. As a result, the emphasis was placed on ‘trust in the partnership’ rather than on ‘hard’ business, such as the building itself. Eventually, three parties were invited to put forward an offer to the request they themselves had shaped together. Wijngaarde Vastgoedconcepten was selected, with partners AM and BAM.

The results

An energetic and challenging process resulted in a partnership that fulfilled the search for a new location. This investment has returned a new, living, office. Located near Amsterdam Sloterdijk station, in between artists and small creative entrepreneurs in a communal incubator environment, an office has been created in which Royal HaskoningDHV has achieved its energy neutrality, health, circularity and collaboration ambitions. And colleagues around the world are enthusiastic about the approach too: departments in London and Cape Town have indicated that they want a similar office.

“Under Noor’s guidance, we reinforced our request and ambitions in open dialogue sessions with the different consortia. This helped us to shape a request based on the process and collaboration rather than the outcome. This approach challenged all the parties involved to look past their own borders to collectively live up to the high ambitions. The collaboration between parties made a real difference.” Martine Verhoeven Manager Business Development

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