Building with nature

Preserving nature with nature. In a nature-friendly way!

The Netherlands is a land of water. A lively landscape of ditches, ponds, canals and rivers. All that water has made our country
formed. The Dutch delta, with large beautiful natural areas and endless water views, are hugely important to Europe. So it is at least as important to take good care of our nature and maintain it properly. And exactly that is the strength of Van Aalsburg. The leading company is working on the future of tomorrow with the vision of 'Building with nature'.

"Protecting and preserving nature with nature, in a circular way. That, in short, is what we are all about," says Dick van Aalsburg. "We do that by revolutionizing the old craft of brushmaker by further developing it with today's techniques. With attention to the environment, efficiency and costs."

Family business

Van Aalsburg B.V. is a third generation family business with high-quality willow products. Leading in the Netherlands and far beyond. The management is in the hands of six brothers and two nephews. The company breathes one big family in everything. Even the first members of the new generation, the cousins, are already working hard. "They are enthusiastic go-getters, all with the same goal and constantly innovating. We are happy with our wonderful team of about 100 driven people," says Dick.

Natural materials

At Van Aalsburg, cradles form the beautiful basis for shoring, legacies, fishwoods and sinkers. Cradles are bundles of braided willow that come from quality willows from our own nursery. Willow in combination with jute and maize cloth are already an excellent alternative for sinkers and shoring. The use of such natural materials in sheet piling reduces CO₂-emissions than if Geotubes had been used. For zinc pieces, the company is aiming for a plastic reduction of 90% (from 1,000,000 m² geotextile to 100,000 m²). "Where possible we like to apply all-natural materials, where necessary we look for a healthy combination."

From pollard willow to CO₂-poor and circular shoring

Sheet piling and sinkers are a highly reliable soil and bank protection and ground retaining wall, ensuring that we keep our feet dry. Van Aalsburg installs more than 30 kilometers of shoring every year. Of hardwood, of willow and of recycled plastic. "Or a surprising combination of these," says Dick. "Good sheet piling reduces the maintenance costs of waterways and a sheet piling made of willow emits the least CO₂ out." Van Aalsburg has continued to develop willow shoring in recent years and applied it in completely new situations with surprising results. "As natural and circular as possible, of course. This fully circular way of building and its ecological added value have clearly proven themselves. The same is true of the docklands, developed to give ecosystems a natural boost, and the fish forests created to restore fish and bird populations. All of these types of projects are demonstrably contributing to the stated objectives of the Water Framework Directive. We are quite proud of that."

Sustainable and innovative equipment

"Building with nature, and doing so in a nature-friendly way, requires durable and innovative equipment," says Dick. "The reason we invest heavily in that, then. We not only realize sustainable projects, but also have unlimited attention to the whole system around it. For example, we reduce waste, we have a huge amount of solar panels on our building and our own transformer house, charging stations for our electric cars and buses." Indispensable for all the electrically powered equipment Van Aalsburg works with. Among other things, they have in-house three floating cranes, as well as two unique custom swamp cranes, two piste bullys and several converted tracked dump trucks. "Also, our boats, battery saws and drills all run on green electricity. At the project site, we use an EnergyHub: a container with built-in 40 kW lithium battery storage system, equipped with three windwheels and six solar panels that generate energy, as well as our battery trailer with 60 kWh storage capacity, charged by the solar panels on our company's roof." Recently, Van Aalsburg commissioned an all-electric 9-ton midi-excavator and a 16-ton unique floating crane. This is fully certified to also work responsibly in inland waterways and rivers, partly due to the additional ES-TRIN certification. No other company in the Netherlands has so many uniquely adapted "wetland" machines. "With our projects we want to increase CO₂ retention than emission, that's -in addition to soil and bank protection- the goal." Not surprisingly, Van Aalsburg is on level 5 of the CO₂-performance ladder, the highest level for quality, safety, sustainable wood and environment.

Collaborations within wonderful projects

Van Aalsburg works closely with, and on behalf of, among others, Natuurmonumenten, Staatsbosbeheer, Stichting Het Groninger Landschap, Stichting Het Zuid-Hollands Landschap and Stichting Het Utrechts Landschap on beautiful projects. "For example, in the Westeinderplassen near Aalsmeer, we realized a nature island of no less than 10×340 meters, built entirely with natural materials. Not only has the water quality and ecology been improved, but this was also the first calculated CO₂-negative project: a wonderful achievement! We are currently working on a new island at Vogelplas Starrevaart in Leidschendam with which we are giving nature a boost."

At the labyrinthine system of canals in Giethoorn, Van Aalsburg realized kilometers of shoring. Executed using a unique pontoon with internal crane elevator, so that the 177 bridges could remain untouched. For the Department of Public Works, Van Aalsburg built two large sheet piles in Wolderwijd. The self-designed constructions were woven -without overlaps- on a pontoon from pollarded willow and finished inside with natural cloth and sisal rope. The result? A large and beautiful fish hotel! In the Natura 2000 area Brandemeer, Van Aalsburg was commissioned by the Dutch Forestry Commission to restore the legacies. A project where, of course, electric boats were used and the EnergyHub was deployed. "This way, even in the most remote and difficult to access places, we still have power for our electrically powered equipment." A project that excelled in complexity and was carried out successfully thanks in part to Van Aalsburg's expertise was the Belgian Fort Sint-Filips. A new groyne was realized in the river Scheldt, creating a 20-hectare zone of valuable tidal nature, which is very important for biodiversity in that river area. "These are all great examples of projects that actually show that protecting nature with nature works. And that is only possible if you work well together and have the same goals in mind." Dick mentions another project in Zuidlaren where she is restoring and strengthening nature in a nature-friendly way for the Stichting Het Groninger Landschap and Waterschap Hunze en Aa's. "But more on that in a future article..."

Certifications

At Van Aalsburg they know what pioneering is: the company started from nothing and has grown into an international company with a strong personality. Vibrant and dynamic and with a clear vision and mission. Built step by step by fantastic and loyal employees. All craftsmen who attach great importance to environmental and quality care. With many valuable certificates under their belt. We have already mentioned the ES-TRIN certification on the electric floating crane and step 5 on the CO₂-performance ladder, but of course the ISO 9001, ISO 140001 and VCA** certificates cannot be missed. "And recently -in addition to our existing FSC certificate for hardwood, we also obtained the PEFC certificate, for softwood. With this we have sealed the sustainable procurement of wood even further."

Future vision: 100% natural

When asked about future plans, Dick is clear: "Building in nature, with nature, in a nature-responsible way, that is what we will always do. Our vision for the future with that is that we aim to use 100% naturally degradable materials. We want to use as little plastic as possible such as polypropylene, because it causes microplastics and creates high cleanup costs at end of life." Dick is convinced that natural materials are qualitatively equivalent with the right assumptions and expectations. "And if we look at life-cycle costs, they are equal to or less than plastic geotextiles. So that should no longer be a reason not to choose natural materials," Dick says in conclusion.