A sustainable, beautiful and safe outdoor space for everyone

Van Doorn designs, shapes and maintains (business) sites, infrastructure and green spaces. "It is an innate drive to always offer a piece of added value to our clients," says commercial director Robert van Doorn. Since 1963, the family business has grown into a major player with 365 employees and around 85 million euros in turnover. An interview with Robert about "the outdoor space of tomorrow.

All our activities are aimed at shaping the outdoor space of tomorrow, begins Robert. "An important pillar within our company is the management and maintenance of currently 400 kilometers of freeways, 1,000 kilometers of provincial roads and another 400 kilometers of main waterways. These are integral projects with long-term performance agreements where green space maintenance, traffic and infra come together, often carried out under UAV-GC. In many cases we are then also responsible for incident management, ensuring that traffic flow is quickly restored after a calamity."

Synergies

In a relatively short time, Van Doorn has experienced tremendous growth. "We often go just a step further than others and try to create as many win-win situations as possible between different sectors," Robert explains. "In other words, we jump on opportunities that we see coming along in adjacent markets. That has shaped us and made us the reputable player we are today for many public and private clients. A good example of this is our guide rail/vehicle barrier division. We have been active in the Dutch market since the end of the last century. Around 2010 we saw opportunities in the Belgian market, so we jumped on it and now half of our guide rail turnover comes from Belgian projects. I estimate that some 30% of the conductor rail in the Netherlands and Belgium was installed or maintained by us at some point. It is indicative of the culture of our organization. We see opportunities, talk about them with each other and just go for it. With our many departments and disciplines, we are and remain an interesting company for a broad group of employees."

Electric sweeper truck

That the market is constantly evolving, you don't have to explain to Robert. "Our market and in particular the infrastructure market is facing an enormous sustainability challenge with regard to emission-free equipment," he says. "It is good that the government is setting very ambitious targets, but the real breakthrough of emission-free equipment in the market is unfortunately still lagging behind. We take a proactive approach. We still dare to take on the investment, despite the fact that we cannot calculate the whole picture beforehand. For example, we have invested in the first electric sweeper truck in the Netherlands. We notice that slowly a kind of enthusiasm is developing for this kind of development. Even the skeptics have changed their minds and the truck is now in full use within our company, even on projects where you wouldn't expect it beforehand. It's a matter of daring and doing."

Talking Post

"As a company, we deliberately focus on that added value because, as a maintenance contractor in particular, you work with clients over a longer period of time," Robert summarizes. "We have an eye for a sustainable, beautiful and safe outdoor space and try to excite clients with additional services and solutions. This has led, among other things, to the training and certification of 30 levee guards (!) within our company. We are the only private dike watch organization, arising from a maintenance contract for the North Sea Canal, which includes the Ringdijk around Marken. There, Rijkswaterstaat has the obligation to organize a dike watch and we take that off their hands. The same goes for dismantling all 3,300 talking poles along the highways. That opportunity came along and we grabbed it with both hands. We collected all the talking poles and provided them with a unique QR code. Some were sold directly to collectors and museums, the other 2,000 poles we gave a new function, such as a charging station or multimedia talking post. A great example of seeing and seizing opportunities. Via www.koopeenpraatpaal.nl you can even get your hands on one more," Robert said in conclusion.