Technology partner with a focus on innovation and sustainability

"Our clients see us as a system integrator. With and for them, we develop and maintain technological solutions that add customer value," says Aris van Erkel, Divisional Director Infra at Croonwolter&dros. We spoke to him and his colleague Remmy Uffen, Commercial & Tendering Manager, about the vision, strategy and approach.  

"Croonwolter&dros is a division of TBI. Within our division, we focus on the infrastructure domain (tunnels, bridges, dams and locks), from design to realization and maintenance. We also specialize in asset management, where we deal with the total lifecycle of assets and sustainability issues."

Remmy adds: "Our goal is to achieve the most favorable footprint possible over the lifetime of an infra object. Because we have a lot of knowledge and expertise on board, we are agile and innovative. This is crucial, as it is the only way we can move with the market developments market trends and needs of our clients."

Reliability, availability and security are core aspects

Aris has been part of the Croonwolter&dros team for a little over a year now. "It makes me proud to work in an environment where you can really observe the drive in your colleagues. That's contagious and I'm sure we'll convey that enthusiasm to our clients and partners as well. For the infrastructure projects on our plate, reliability, availability and safety are the core aspects of our work. An important starting point here is sustainability. In addition, we have an innovative digital agenda where generating reliable data is hugely important, as is making data traffic and data storage secure."

Sustainability and innovation

Remmy outlines the importance of sustainability for Croonwolter&dros: "We embrace the ambition of Rijkswaterstaat to be energy-neutral by 2030. Croonwolter&dros therefore also focuses on projects where sustainability is important." Aris adds, "For this you need partners in the chain who are on the same page as our company when it comes to sustainability. That's what we select for. Our credo here is that we grow together by sharing. We go for long-term relationships and we want to generate customer value. That is what our innovations are aimed at. This requires flexible employees and courage. A question of dreaming, daring and doing. Croonwolter&dros is a flat organization and everyone can contribute ideas. For example, we have periodic idea sessions. A great initiative!"

With the replacement and reno-vation task, position of technology becomes leading 

Croonwolter&dros is traditionally a project company. "We know the ropes with regard to tenders.
In the tender/design phase, we concentrate on making the right choices. That's already 80% of the work, if you look at it sec," Aris outlines. 

Remmy notes that the position of technology is becoming more prominent in projects. "With the shift from new construction to renovation, we see that renovating in existing environments creates inconvenience. There lies a nice challenge for us there, to minimize this nuisance as much as possible and we are fully committed to that. We have a good focus on innovations in existing environments." Aris adds: "It is precisely within that playing field that modular construction is going to deliver something."

Probing where the need lies

"Where we used to go to the client with reliable tech under our arm, we now take more time to analyze what a client's need actually is. Techies want to solve problems, but to do that you have to listen first," Remmy said. "Clients are increasingly looking for cooperation, and we want to be that constructive partner."

It's not just about technology, we are explained. "Asset management and (predictive) maintenance are indeed about technology and data, but mainly about the process itself. For that you need people and a rock-solid organization. We are all proud of what we achieve together, for and with our clients, for our own growth. The passion is there. The will to score together is there. The ability to think ahead, innovativeness ... all present. In short: Intelligence through technology and focus on what really matters," Aris concludes.