Versatile family business presents itself as a worthy (chain) partner

Gas, water, electricity, telecom and heat, the Siers Group provides a complete range of services for underground infrastructure. With 700 permanent employees, 1,400 hirers and even its own recruitment agency, the family business is active in the Netherlands and (increasingly) in Germany. Commercial director Peter Telgenkamp gives us a look behind the scenes and takes us to a number of special projects.

The Siers Group is a family business consisting of several companies headquartered in Oldenzaal. "We operate in a whole number of different disciplines," says Telgenkamp. "With Siers Leidingmontage, for example, we fly projects in which we deploy electricity, gas, water and district heating and where applicable also include telecom and data in the combo. So we have all the disciplines in house for installing a combined home connection." For its part, Siers Telecom is active throughout the Netherlands in laying fiber optic and coaxial cables for the well-known players. "With our consultancy and engineering firm Siers Infraconsult, we take on the entire engineering process for underground infrastructure with 160 professionals. We take work off the hands of network operators, water boards and governments, as well as contractors and private companies." 

Self-sufficient charging point

Furthermore, companies such as Privatis and BOPA are also part of the Siers Group. "With Privatis we focus on the privatized part of the medium and high-voltage grid with which we serve large consumers in industry with grid management, construction, maintenance and inspection of these installations," Telgenkamp clarifies. With BOPA, Siers focuses on grounding, lightning protection and potential equalization throughout the Netherlands. "In addition, we have another division Siers Installatietechniek, which is particularly active in the loading and storage market. With this division, for example, we realized the large battery hub at Jaarbeurs Utrecht in combination with charging stations and solar panels. A self-sufficient charging point that was widely reported in the national media." 

Own(wise) recruitment agency

Siers also set up its own recruitment agency a few years ago: ViaSiers. "We used to all fish in the same pond as competitors, but these days we do things differently," says Telgenkamp. "We are very active in the college and university market and also pull people in with non-technical degrees. The idea behind that is that we teach them the tricks of the trade ourselves. This not infrequently leads to interesting insights. They often look differently at technical challenges and subsequently come up with a completely different solution that we wouldn't have thought of ourselves. That creates an interesting dynamic and is very valuable to us as a company."

Job security

Siers Group still has one shareholder with Peter Siers. He took over the company in 1993 from his father Herman, who started Siers in 1964. The family business is also represented at InfraTech 2023. "We are a company that sails sustainably on the wind and invest a lot in continuity and sustainability. At the fair, we are happy to engage in conversation with visitors while also demonstrating some new developments in the context of BIM mixing in underground infra, such as our new radar technology based on Lidar. The underground infrastructure sector faces a huge task in the coming years. Every street in the Netherlands must be opened to enable energy transition. Water (nuisance) is also increasingly becoming a problem. In short, if you want (job) security then you're in the right place with us."