Our stakeholders and how we engage
The environment, society and economies are facing complex challenges which cannot be addressed in isolation, that is why we work in close collaborating with clients and stakeholders.
Header image: As of September 2021, we are managing the real estate portfolio of all ABN AMRO locations in the Netherlands for the next five years. The ongoing development of the bank’s objectives on sustainability, employee experience and digital transformation is embedded in the contract. Photo: the combined ABN AMRO – Royal HaskoningDHV team. Read more about this agreement on our website
Employees
Our people are the cornerstone to deliver our services, enable our strategy and make a difference when they bring their diverse perspectives together. We are unlocking the full potential of our leaders, our teams and every employee to help our company become even stronger and more successful. We actively promote equality and diversity in all its forms and pay close regard to individuals’ physical and mental well-being.
More information is available in the chapter Our People
Clients
We work for private companies of all sizes, from multinationals to small and medium-sized enterprises. Our clients also include national, regional and local governments across the world, as well as international semi-governmental and not-for-profit organisations, and finance institutes.
Our clients’ overall satisfaction is an important indicator of our performance as a company. We measure it in various ways, including via client satisfaction surveys when a project is completed.
Comments from clients who scored us an 8 or higher on overall project satisfaction include:
‘I had the pleasure of working with Royal HaskoningDHV as our design partners on a multi-million euro pharmaceutical project. The team’s knowledge, innovation and attention to detail played a vital role in the successful delivery of the project. I look forward to working with them again in the future.’
Client: FESP International
Project: Engineering services for a pharmaceutical facility, the Netherlands
‘The Royal HaskoningDHV team has been an excellent designer for us on this project and brought the required expertise in a very professional and collaborative manner. They were always available for consultation and discussion to get the appropriate balance between construction and customer needs.’
Client: John Sisk & Son (Holdings)
Project: Isle of Man Ferry Terminal, United Kingdom
‘Drafting communications is key in any project and is vital for disaster management. Royal HaskoningDHV is the best in this respect.’
Client: King Cetshwayo District Municipality
Project: Disaster management risk assessment, South Africa
‘We have been very happy to have Chuchawal-Royal Haskoning as our representative. The team’s technical expertise and project management added value and contributed to the project’s success.’
Client: Beiersdorf
Project: Factory expansion, Thailand
‘Royal HaskoningDHV is able to signal potential technical traffic control problems in a complex environment. The consultants of Royal HaskoningDHV know how to make the right decisions and provide solid doable technical solution.’
Client: Province of Utrecht
Project: Level crossing at Maarsbergen, the Netherlands
‘Royal HaskoningDHV provides pro-active digital thinking support and do what they say.’
Clients: DCMR Milieudienst (Environment Agency) Rijnmond
Project: Digital mapping wet colling towers, the Netherlands
‘Royal HaskoningDHV should be proud of what they have achieved in bringing this incredibly complex fish pass project to a reality. The unique constraints of the location have led to a fully bespoke design, while also achieving the optimal conditions for fish passage at the largest barrier in the Midlands.’
Client: Environment Agency
Project: Fish pass designed to aid migration around sluice gates, United Kingdom
‘It was a pleasure to work with the engineers from Royal HaskoningDHV. They are responsive and supportive, making it easy to accomplish the tasks expected of them. They are open to suggestions and feedback to improve their work and are excellent facilitator-educators, which allowed other professionals to learn new knowledge, skills and abilities.’
Client: CEST, Incorporated
Project: Training for water supply and sanitation project, the Philippines
Partners and associations
It is through an integrated, open and collaborative approach with partners and associations that we can accelerate innovation and multiply positive impact, securing our position at the forefront of solutions for key global trends.
Strategic partnerships
In 2021, we deepened our existing partnership with water information consultancy Hydroinformatics Institute (H2i) in Singapore by acquiring a majority interest. It strengthens an ambitious and successful union which is agile enough to rapidly address risks associated with climate change.
Driven by demand for digitalisation and automation in the water industry, we have joined forces with Mitsubishi Electric Europe to develop specialised automation controls enabling water companies to optimise the performance and efficiency of their plants. As part of this strategic partnership, we aim to integrate our software solution Aquasuite with Mitsubishi Electric’s high-end hardware. Another strategic partnership involving Aquasuite was signed with Gain Automation Technology. Combining their expertise in industrial and technical automation ensures Aquasuite is optimally configured and connected to the clients’ processes and technologies.
Throughout our business, developments in digital engineering are supported by ongoing partnerships with leading engineering software providers, Autodesk and Bentley.
We were finalist in the Geotechnical Engineering category of the Bentley 2021 Going Digital Awards in Infrastructure
Technology partners
Revolutionary developments in bridge design and construction that we have been working on in partnership with DSM Additive Manufacturing, now Covestro, are ongoing. Progress made in 2021 is resulting in the delivery of a lightweight, 3D-printed circular composite pedestrian bridge to the city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands in 2022. This first bridge heralds the transition to the next generation of bridges offering high performance with extreme versatility, circularity and sustainability.
Networks and partnerships continue to be central to the growing number of installations of our wastewater technology Nereda, and to further innovation. At the end of 2021, the Nereda community includes 15 licensees and 9 preferred suppliers and is active in several research consortia. Over 90 Nereda plants are in operation or under construction worldwide which, on completion, will bring high-quality wastewater treatment to more than 10 million people across 21 countries. In the United Kingdom, our first Nereda Package Plant at United Utilities’ site in Westnewton won the Wastewater Innovation Project of the Year at the Water Industry Awards. This small-scale Nereda reuse solution also won the Vernufteling 2021 (link opens in Dutch), an annual jury prize for the most innovative Dutch engineering project with real societal value.
Business partnerships
We signed a Memorandum of Understanding with CPG Consultants for climate change adaptation studies in Singapore to facilitate knowledge transfer and build expertise. CPG is leading a site-specific study to develop a climate resilience masterplan and formulate climate adaptation measures for integrated coastal protection on behalf of Singapore’s National Water Agency PUB. We are providing expertise in water management, coastal protection and waterfront developments.
A collaboration with Jacobs and Detectronic is leading to the adoption of our smart water technology Aquasuite by one of the largest water companies in the United Kingdom. We are also collaborating (link opens in Dutch) with GMB Services to help water authorities in the Netherlands optimise their processes and business operations. The multi-year collaboration provides a one-stop shop for water authorities for integrated hardware and software solutions in wastewater transport systems, water purification and sludge dewatering installations, among others.
Partnerships are also successfully extending the reach of our climate risk data to support better decision making around flood and climate risk management. Ambiental Risk Analytics, one of our companies, is working with several resellers to bring this leading-edge data to a broad customer base. In 2021, it forged a very successful partnership with Hometrack, enabling Hometrack to deliver a climate change risk solution to mortgage lenders. Together with HSBC, Hometrack’s solution, driven by expertise from Ambiental, won the ‘Best Use of Technology’ in the Credit Risk category of the Credit Awards 2021.
Within the next decade, industry in Europe needs to reduce CO2 emissions by more than 50%. To assist, we have joined forces with engineering construction company SPIE Nederland in a partnership (link opens in Dutch) that focuses on identifying, developing and implementing a multi-year programme for the industry to meet this goal. Furthermore, with the help of an investment partner, we are able to offer an alternative model where the industry purchases the use of sustainable and predictable utilities without direct investment.
In seeking to improve the sustainability of aviation, the contribution of baggage is often overlooked. To address this and reduce the environmental impact of baggage handling operations, our company NACO (Netherlands Airport Consultants) has partnered with BagsID Network to launch the Green Baggage Alliance.
Associations across industries
We play an active role in industry organisations and contribute ideas and experiences, attend conferences, and collaborate on themes. For example, our Resident Director Netherlands is Board Member of NLengineers, the Dutch association of consulting engineers, which actively participates in the societal, political and public debates as a content driven and constructive partner.
In the United Kingdom our Executive Director is Vice Chair of the Association of Consultancy & Engineering (ACE) Board and leads the future of consultancy workstream. The ACE’s Future of Consultancy campaign provides guidance and thought leadership to members, clients and policy makers on how to deal with the challenges presented by climate change, digital technology and the skills needed for the future. In 2021, the campaign successfully delivered a client guide to engaging consultants in a disruptive world (Consultancy 4.0). This was supplemented with programmes on leadership, future skills and using data and digital technology to deliver better outcomes.
We are also actively involved with PIANC, the global organisation providing guidance and technical advice for a sustainable waterborne transport infrastructure. In 2021, we have been leading the drafting and re-drafting of several of the BS6349 standards for shipyards which are recognised globally.
In 2021, we became member of the Sustainable Digital Infrastructure Alliance to contribute our knowledge and expertise towards shaping today’s and tomorrow’s digital infrastructure.
We also continued to organise webinars to share knowledge and best practice, for example on how simulation can help futureproof business, how smart mooring is improving port operations, and on how our Uptime tool helps assess climate risks for assets and facilities. The future of offices and workplaces was a major topic for organisations in 2021 and a Round Table event we held enabled visions, insights and experiences to be shared with companies including Achmea, Booking.com, Nike, Coty and more.
Knowledge networks
Our multi-year partnership with Delft University of Technology to collaborate in research, field labs, innovation, start-ups, education and talent bared fruit in various areas in 2021. For example, in research and education we assisted four teams involved in the Joint Interdisciplinary Project with investigations on the energy transition, water storage in the Mekong Delta, global climate change risk mitigation and a 3D-printing quality control system. We also participated in the committee developing a new Masters Programme in Environmental Engineering in the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences. In 2024, we will open on the TU Delft Campus a new sustainable and Paris Proof office in the monumental Mining Faculty, to become more intertwined in the Delft innovation ecosystem.
In 2021, our Global Director BIM/Digital Engineering was appointed Board Member of bSI, the worldwide authority driving the digital transformation of the built asset environment.
We signed a collaboration agreement with the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions to support its climate resilience activities as an innovation affiliate. This includes support to the development of a City Resilience Scan which takes cascading effects into account in measuring the climate resilience of cities.
To support our ambitions on biodiversity we partnered with the Dutch Delta Plan for Biodiversity Recovery (link opens in Dutch). Through this partnership, we commit to work on the recovery of biodiversity in the Netherlands and continue to integrate ecological added value and biodiversity into our projects.
We have joined the CCAM Association which promotes and facilitates competitive research on Connected, Cooperative and Automated Mobility (CCAM). Through it, we will share insights on the safe and smooth integration of automated vehicles in the transport system, and work together to create more inclusive and sustainable mobility.
In the United Kingdom, we sponsor an annual competition for research projects by students on the Maritime Masters programme. In the Netherlands, we also supported VIRTUe, a multi-disciplinary international team from Eindhoven University of Technology, which took part in the Solar Decathlon Europe 2021 with the aim of creating a global solution with relevance beyond the competition requirements.
Governments and International institutions
We engage with governments and international institutions sharing insights, expertise and information to support the international trade and sustainability agenda. Once again, opportunities to participate in trade missions, round tables and collaborative ventures were reduced in 2021 by the pandemic. A major focus for everyone interested in the future of the planet was the UN Climate Change Conference, COP26. We followed developments closely and our leading professionals shared observations. In his review, our leading professional for Enhancing Society Together reported cautious optimism as a result of the growing strength and momentum of private sector activity on greenhouse gas reduction.
Communities
One of the themes defined within our mission to Enhance Society Together is to positively seek out and provide wider benefits for communities, beyond the primary scope of our projects. This means that social value will increasingly impact the choices we make about the projects we take on. We are committed to add value in the way we approach projects through stakeholder management to incorporate and respond to input from the local community. We also support communities in which we work through individual and corporate initiatives. Information about these activities appears in the Enhancing Society Together chapter.
Suppliers
We expect high standards from our suppliers and aim to develop lasting relationships with reliable partners. Our suppliers can expect clarity, transparency and honesty from us and, in turn, must comply with our Business Principles for our Partners and Suppliers.
Shareholders
Royal HaskoningDHV is an independent and unlisted company, owned by two shareholders: Stichting HaskoningDHV (Foundation) and Stichting Administratiekantoor HaskoningDHV (Trust Office). The Foundation holds and manages all A-shares (being at least 75.5% of the entire issued share capital) and the Trust Office holds and manages all B-shares (representing at most 24.5% of the entire issued share capital) that allow for the issue of ‘company shares’ to all employees in the Netherlands, United Kingdom, South Africa, Poland, Australia and Canada. Through these shares employees can build an interest in the company, feel engaged and become more involved. At the end of 2021, 2,015 employees held certificates which is 59% more than the year before and partially because more employees decided to receive their variable pay in 2021 in the form of company shares. Read more about the Foundation and the Trust Office on our website