OUR COMPANY

The world is in transition. Solving today’s biggest challenges involves physical solutions, smart brains and digital technology. This is the combination Royal HaskoningDHV is using to help build a better, more efficient and sustainable society. 

With the possibilities that digitisation brings, we have found new ways to visualise, predict and impact our society – whether it’s improving mobility, smart ports, high-performing production sites, water efficiency or climate resilience.We connect the physical world with the digital domain by integrating digital and data capabilities in our engineering expertise to positively impact society. Our insights support decision making, reveal efficiencies and help create long-term value for our customers.

OUR MARKETS AND GLOBALLY LEADING SERVICES

We deliver our products and services within the markets described below. Particular services are recognised as being at the forefront of their field and these also appear below, highlighted in italics.

Aviation

Royal HaskoningDHV’s full subsidiary companies, NACO and InterVISTAS, are world-leading aviation consultancies. We provide independent services to airports, airlines, governments, investors and contractors. We are experts in airport consultancy, transportation economics, policy and regulation advice, finance, master-planning, functional planning and design, building  design and civil engineering. Our expertise in airport systems includes airport IT infrastructure and master-planning, as well as passenger terminal IT, security and baggage handling systems. With the knowledge and experience from our team of in-house experts, clients across the globe benefit from short communication lines and efficient project management. 

Airports

As a global leader in airport development, we have shaped over 600 airports in more than 100 countries, with projects spanning major landmark designs to regional and domestic airports. Our clients benefit from our state-of-the-art approach to airport design, where digital engineering tooling, 3D modelling and BIM technology are used to gather and analyse vast quantities of data. This can be accessed and shared in real time to help our clients accurately understand, predict and direct passenger flows, improve their asset utilisation and deliver a better passenger experience.

Industry

Many of our industrial clients share a common objective: to produce high quality goods in the most efficient way possible. By working in close partnership with our food and beverage, pharmaceutical, oil and gas, chemical and automotive clients, we co-create solutions that are transforming industry through innovation. We develop digital solutions that design reliable, sustainable and compliant assets  and  predict  maintenance and provide timely insights. Combining  requirements  and goals for both the CAPEX and OPEX side of our client’s business, we provide data-driven optimisation solutions that enhance performance and minimise environmental impact for new and repurposed industrial sites.

Consumer goods

From breweries, food and beverages to industrial and pharmaceutical goods, we support manufacturers in proactively and effectively responding to consumer demands, such as speed to market and accommodating market expansion. Clients benefit from our practical knowledge and expertise for efficient production and increased flexibility. Together we develop high-performance, multi-purpose sites and place technology, automation, access and connectivity at the forefront of every project.

Buildings

Whether an office, hospital, data centre, factory or school building, we approach our clients’ challenges strategically  and holistically. We work in close partnership with our  private and public sector clients to realise added value for their organisations, such as improving data centre efficiency and reducing energy consumption. Our solutions prioritise health, productivity and comfort, while achieving KPIs related to asset performance and management. Combining our domain expertise with cutting-edge digital twin capability, our consulting services ensure the best use of space, materials and energy, while contributing to business and climate resilience.

Energy

Addressing the energy transition has become a central challenge for our clients. Our expertise in innovative energy solutions draws on over 30 years of consultancy experience in energy diversification. We provide services across the whole value chain, from strategy and implementation to technology. Our clients’ needs are vast and diverse: from large-scale wind and water infrastructure to technology platforms that optimise energy use across a global portfolio. Together we explore scenarios to deliver the best possible solution for clients seeking leading-edge, sustainable power supplies.

Urban and Rural Development

Population growth and changes in society, such as an increasing desire for demand-driven sustainable  transport, are bringing new challenges to both urban and rural areas. Challenges also include sweltering cities, water and floods, ghettos and abandoned industrial zones. We assist our clients with economic and market research to create spatial master plans and draw on our multi-disciplinary expertise, to shape every aspect of urban design, including water management, infrastructure, utilities and transportation. Our robust, resilient solutions unlock the potential of rural areas, balancing economic growth and investments with circularity and sustainability. Vital services include financial feasibility studies, environmental and social impact assessments. We develop plans to manage resources and improve ecologies, designing attractive living environments for the benefit of communities and stakeholders.

 Transport and Infrastructure

Well-functioning infrastructure helps societies thrive and individuals prosper. Smart planning, novel technologies and stakeholder management – together with our integrated engineering approaches – are achieving multiple goals and delivering wider societal benefit, such as the energy transition, circularity, accessibility and reduced pollution. For instance, the world’s first lightweight 3D-printed fibre reinforced polymer bridge, developed with our partners, transforms bridge design and brings longer lifespan, lower lifecycle costs and improved sustainability for our clients. Innovation such as this is at the core of our business. We are collaborating with clients to shape the new mobility system, which balances individual needs for affordability and reliability with society’s need for liveability and urban planning. Using the latest digital tools to create greater efficiencies or developing new innovative services such as Flowtack to optimise traffic flows, we’re pushing the frontiers of infrastructure and mobility design to drive sustainability and enhance society – now and in the future.

 Tunnels and underground structures

Intensive road use is one cause of traffic congestion and in many cities there is simply no space to build more roads. In today’s busy cities and ports, tunnels and underground structures can make all the difference in connecting communities and boosting accessibility. Through our joint venture, TEC (Tunnel Engineering Consultants), we are the global leader in soft ground tunnelling. We have a strong track record demonstrating our expertise in immersed tunnels. Our integrated approach means we deliver for clients at every stage, from tunnel design and construction right through to risk management and safety analysis.

Maritime

We are a world leader in maritime port and infrastructure development and home to one of the largest groups of maritime consulting engineers in the world. We  are involved in high-profile maritime projects from Europe to Australia and Asia to Latin America. By applying technology, drawing on our global expertise and consulting with specialist partners, we develop smart solutions working together with our clients. Our integrated, multidisciplinary approach means we  can  deliver all the expertise required – optimising existing terminals, creating new port facilities, relocating terminals or refurbishing facilities.

 Smart ports, shipyards and terminals

Globally, ports and terminals are under pressure to become more streamlined and more environmentally friendly. We see major opportunities for our clients to drive efficiency through digitalisation and automation. Applying smart solutions can help improve efficiency, return on investment and bring sustainable performance for ports and shipyards. Our maritime experts understand the economic realities of ports and terminals and the need to create lasting solutions. We assist our clients in all phases of their maritime and transport projects: from trade and traffic forecasts, feasibility studies and first consents/permits, to design and execution, maintenance and business support.

Water for the future

A safe and secure living environment is ultimately about improving the quality of people’s lives and of systems, as cities, business and infrastructure become ever-more complex. A holistic vision is needed to plan for future development. Royal HaskoningDHV offers a seamless integration of consulting engineering, technology and software services related to water. These services accelerate adaptation to increasing demand and risks. To help navigate a world of increasing complexities, such as fast-paced climate and  societal change, we bring a combination of the deep domain knowledge of our engineering consultants, our award-winning technologies and emerging digital technologies such as digital twin and AI. This empowers our clients to make informed decisions and increase resilience and adaptative speed. 

Smart water in cities

As cities and their populations grow, so does the demand for accessible, safe drinking water. The higher population densities of cities also lead to increased water pollution and contamination. Our deep domain knowledge and our technologies, in combination with emerging digital innovations such as AI and predictive analytics, gears to increased efficiency, performance and lifespan of water and waste water assets and infrastructure. This seamless connection between real and virtual water systems enables redesign and creation of the water circuit of the future. 

Resilience in cities

People and their assets now operate 24/7/365 in high-density urban environments, making society more vulnerable to climate and weather-related disruption. Extreme weather events and natural hazards impact severely on people in terms of loss of lives, health and well-being, and temporary or permanent loss of homes and livelihoods. Besides environmental and ecological damage, the wider societal and economic impact includes disruption to infrastructure, transport and business operations. We support our clients by creating resilient strategies and systems for communities, businesses, infrastructure and the financial sector to reduce the impact of extreme weather, natural disasters and climate change before events occur. Resilience suite is our digital service offering that provides our clients with actionable insights to make their business processes more resilient. This includes risk assessments for governments and cities (e.g. BlueLabel in the Netherlands) and for the insurance sector (FloodScore in the United Kingdom and Australia). We look at the best combination of measures at different timescales fitting local needs; using an integrated system approach combining structural and organisational measures with social inclusiveness.

OUR STAKEHOLDERS AND HOW WE ENGAGE

At Royal HaskoningDHV, we have embedded an open and collaborative approach into our ways of working. Our network enables us to identify and accelerate innovations which respond more effectively to the changing needs of the world and create positive impact. Our main stakeholders are:

Clients

We work for private companies of all sizes, from multi- nationals to small and medium-sized enterprises. We work for governments – national, regional and local. We work for international semi-governmental organisations and finance institutes as well as not-for-profit organisations. 

A client engagement survey was conducted by an independent external research agency in 2019 among nearly 1,000 clients. Results indicated further increase in the strength of our relationships with clients and emphasised the necessity of our strategy for reinforcing our market position. On qualities valued by clients, our score for technical knowledge is considerably above competitors and our score for ease to work with is much better than average. Clients praise our rich expertise across markets. Overall, clients indicate that we have a lot to be proud of but that we are too modest in broadcasting our achievements. These insights will be used to support and shape initiatives in 2020 and beyond.

Comments from clients who scored us 10 on overall project satisfaction include: 

“Royal HaskoningDHV was instrumental in providing technical solutions to problems that could not have been foreseen during the design phase. We were assigned a team of Royal HaskoningDHV professionals, all highly skilled in their areas of expertise. They are solutions driven, they know the local environment and they know how to excel under local conditions – with the appointment of Royal HaskoningDHV the project gained a definite advantage.”

Sasol, engineering, procurement & construction management (EPCM) for a housing project to provide accommodation, supporting infrastructure and amenities for employees (Mozambique)

“The end result was an excellent combination of technical research with practical recommendations. An enthusiastic and expert research team that thinks along with you and delivers on time!”

North Holland Environmental Federation, study into the opportunities for trains to substitute short distance flights (Netherlands)

“The team's expert support has been technically excellent, getting to the root of and explaining the problem, which has helped to inform and progress the final solution.”

Balfour Beatty, expert review of overall design, drainage detail and construction workmanship of Anchorsholme Sea Defence Scheme (United Kingdom)

“Excelled in every possible aspect and went above and beyond what was requested and/or expected.”

Weavind & Weavind, NACO acted as expert witness in an arbitration for an airport design project (South Africa)

“Royal HaskoningDHV was able to deliver the expertise; the report produced was excellent and considered all environmental aspects of the site.”

SM Prime Holdings, Pasay Paranaque development project to design the reclamation and the horizontal development works (Philippines)

“Based on the experience of Kuwait runway project, we believe NACO is one of the best designers of airports in the world.”

AVIC International Holding Corporation, design of iconic air traffic control tower, new third runway and taxiways, and renovation of existing runway (Kuwait)

“Royal HaskoningDHV has succeeded in delivering the product on time and within budget in a complex environment with many and demanding stakeholders. A unique achievement within this domain.”

NS Fiets BV, improvement of self-service bicycle parking entrances, (Netherlands)

Partners and associations

Our collaboration with partners and associations supports the active role we play at the forefront of key global trends.

Digital service partners

We are accelerating the development of faster and better insights in expected flood risk for cities, businesses and residents through a strategic partnership with Singapore-based Hydroinformatics Institute, H2i. Our minority shareholder position brings together our companies’ deep understanding of climate-related challenges and urban flood resilience to produce data-driven solutions using big data analytics, machine learning and advanced modelling. The partnership was recognised in the Winsemius Awards 2019 for innovative and impactful achievements in business links between Singapore and the Netherlands. We also extended our partnership with Autodesk for a further three years, bringing our engineering  and consultancy intelligence together with Autodesk’s data and programming intelligence. The partnership has a particular focus on generative design, augmented and virtual reality and digital twins to deliver tailor-made solutions to our clients   using the latest technologies and insights. 

Data partnerships are central to the growth and development of Ambiental, a company we acquired in 2019. Ambiental works in partnership with many leading organisations in the public and private sector to shape solutions for some of the world’s biggest challenges. It has extensive data partnerships with leading national authorities which form the input parameters to its flood modelling algorithms.

Technology development partners

Our collaboration with industry leaders CEAD and DSM is leading a revolution in bridge construction and design. In 2019 it led to a prototype of the world’s first lightweight 3D printed fibre reinforced polymer bridge which has a longer lifespan, lower lifecycle costs and improved sustainability. 

Networks and partnerships continue to be central to the growing number of installations of our revolutionary waste water technology Nereda® and we are successfully involved with further innovation. The Nereda® community now includes 13 licensees and 5 preferred suppliers alongside its involvement in research consortiums. There are 74 Nereda® plants in operation or under construction worldwide which, on completion, will bring high-quality waste water treatment to more than 10 million people across 19 countries. Regarding innovation, a large-scale production unit for a new bio-based resource, Kaumera, was opened in 2019 and a second production unit is coming online in 2020. Kaumera is extracted from the aerobic granular sludge originating from the Nereda® treatment process. The development is the result of a collaborative project involving multiple stakeholders and in 2018 Royal HaskoningDHV acquired the original patents from Delft University of Technology in order to accelerate growth. Kaumera won a major innovation award during the year (see Report of the Executive Board).

Knowledge networks

Our links with knowledge institutes remain vital for the  progress we are making in addressing the challenges facing governments, businesses and individuals in society. Our employees have contacts with more than 80 universities across the world and we continue particularly close collaboration with Delft University of Technology (Netherlands), Imperial College London (United Kingdom), University of Cape Town (South Africa) and Institute of Technology Bandung (Indonesia). 

We are involved in research into areas such as flood management and protection and smart energy management through partnerships in programmes funded by The Dutch Research Council (NWO) and  the Technology Foundation STW. Other partnerships focused on a sustainable future include our board membership of Climate Campus, committed to climate resilience for cities and deltas, and our association with TU Delft’s Delta Futures Lab for Sediment and Subsidence. We are collaborating closely with the Green Village (Delft), a living lab for sustainable innovation. In 2019, following our leading role in the design process, building work started on the Co-Creation Centre which we co-founded at the Green Village. We have also been investigating further collaboration in areas including digital twin developments. 

We are the only private sector partner in the Netherlands Land Academy, LANDac, working on land governance for equitable and sustainable development, and are members of the social advisory board of the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development.

Associations across industries

Royal HaskoningDHV plays an active role in a wide range of industry associations and, in 2019, joined the OECD Water Governance Initiative, which informs the debate around water governance, sustainability and facilitating dialogue between public and private bodies. We are a member of the Smart Water Networks Forum (SWAN), the leading global hub for the smart water and waste water sectors, collaborating to make complex water infrastructure more resilient through intelligent technology. 

As International members of buildingSMART, we continue  to deepen our relationship with this leading industry-driven organisation dedicated to open BIM and interoperability standards and processes. We also play a leading role in the end-user focused airport domain and are looking to extend our involvement in the buildings, tunnels, rail, roads, bridges and  GIS domains. An important initiative to develop best practice documentation and guidance in the ports and harbours domain is being led by PIANC, the world association for waterborne transport infrastructure. 

A fruitful partnership with the monthly magazine of the Institution of Civil Engineers in the United Kingdom continued in 2019. Among other activities, it provided an opportunity for us to host an exclusive round table debate to explore innovations around financing for infrastructure projects, building stakeholder and political support and how to deliver best whole life value at an early stage. We also presented our vision on flood resilience at the magazine’s Future of Floods event.

An initiative we instigated in Africa brings together government, industry and academia to shape the future of mobility. The Mobility Centre for Africa was borne out of a need to start a dialogue on and plan for the disruptive forces that are shaping the transport industry. Through the partnership, we are working together on finding lasting solutions to issues such as congestion, emissions and affordability

A focus on entrepreneurship

We encourage entrepreneurship and  innovation  through specific initiatives. In South Africa, for example, we are partners with Orange Corners, which contributes to the country’s economic growth by creating an environment in which local entrepreneurship can thrive. In the Netherlands, we partner YES!Delft, a tech incubator that helps entrepreneurs to build and grow leading technology companies.

Shareholders

Koninklijke HaskoningDHV Groep B.V. has two shareholders: Stichting (Foundation) HaskoningDHV that holds all A-shares (representing at least 75.5% of the entire issued share capital) and Stichting Administratiekantoor (Trust Office) that holds all B-shares (representing 24.5% of the entire issued share capital at max) for which depositary receipts (certificates) have been issued which can be purchased by employees in various countries all over the world. Through these certificates, employees can share in the results of Royal HaskoningDHV. The certificate holders choose the board of the Trust Office HaskoningDHV. 

The Board of the Foundation consists of five members. One is appointed by (not out of) each of the Supervisory Board, the Executive Board and the Works Council. One member is appointed by and out of the depositary receipts holders. The fifth member is the Board’s chair and is an independent external individual appointed by the four other members.

The Board of the Trust Office manages the B-shares in Koninklijke HaskoningDHV Groep B.V. and issues and administers the depositary receipts for shares to eligible HaskoningDHV staff members. This board consists of three members and is appointed by and out of the depositary receipt holders. 

The annual Shareholder Meeting is attended by the Board Members of the Foundation HaskoningDHV, the Board Members of the Trust Office HaskoningDHV, the Supervisory Board, the Executive Board, the depository receipt holders and (on invitation of the Chairman) the representatives of the Works Council. This enables a dialogue between the Executive Board and various groups of stakeholders.

Suppliers

We strive for lasting relationships with reliable partners and have high expectations from our suppliers. Suppliers may expect a clear, transparent and honest attitude from us and must comply with our Business Principles for our Partners and Suppliers.

Governments and International Institutions

We engage with bodies of the Dutch Government to support the international trade and sustainability agenda, sharing expertise and information through our participation in trade missions, round tables and collaborative ventures. In 2019, we joined amongst others Dutch trade missions to Vietnam and India. The focus in Vietnam was on climate resilience and socio-economic development through improved port and inland waterways. Agreements signed during the mission included a World Bank funded project to improve the resilience of the Mekong Delta while delivering clean water and sanitation. We are involved with an Airport city concept and port improvements for the  city of Da Nang and developing a public-private partnership for sustainable flood protection in greater Ho Chi Minh City. During the trade mission to India, our specialists shared insights into smart port development, highlighting opportunities to address challenges facing ports. Experts from our water business explored collaboration for tackling issues relating to rapid urbanisation and extreme weather events  while  maximising the economic potential of cities.

Communities

Communities are important stakeholders in many of our projects and we seek to make positive impact where we work. Our 3D visualisations and other digital tools are enhancing the ways in which we engage and connect with stakeholders, giving them more insight and understanding of plans. Feedback and suggestions generated help to improve the outcome for all. We also support the communities in which we work through individual and corporate initiatives to enhance society together. For example, a charitable fund set up and run by employees,  the BrITE Foundation, assisted disadvantaged young people in 2019. Funds accrue through regular voluntary contributions made directly from employees’ salaries. In 2019 they were used to set up a small library in a remote rural village in China, where children can go on Saturdays to watch cartoons, read and borrow books. The fund also contributed to new toilet units in a secondary school in Uganda to ensure the health and good hygiene of the students. The education they receive at the school helps provide a route out of poverty by broadening their employment prospects. Further information on our activities in the communities where we work appears in Our Company.

Employees

We are a people company and the intelligence, innovation and passion of a diverse and inclusive workforce is at the heart of our success. In 2019 we maintained focus on building the skills needed to achieve our ambitions, through recruitment and skills development.