Co-making creates grip and commitment at The Orchard in Rijswijk

Collaborating at scale in ventilation engineering

The redevelopment of the Sterpassage in Rijswijk into residential area The Orchard is about more than scale and technology. In the project with 509 apartments, 3,000 square meters of retail, more than 200 parking spaces and accompanying installations, there is one central principle: all parties involved are fully committed to it together. For Bemar, a subsidiary of Interduct, developer 3W and builder and sustainability advocate ERA Contour, this is a conscious approach.

At The Orchard, the executing parties moved to the table early on. For Bemar, that process began as early as 2021. “From the first plans, we help design how installations will best fit into the building,” says Louis Nijssen, chief engineer at Bemar. “Then you can really influence the design.” According to director Jurgen Weerdenburg of ERA Contour, this early involvement is no coincidence. “We deliberately choose to work with regular partners and involve them early on. This allows you to steer on quality, manufacturability and costs.” This also enables decisions to be made jointly and supported by the entire construction team.

Early involvement, steering together

“The strength of this project lies in making better use of the space that is already there,” says project manager Milly van Oers of project developer 3W. That ambition is the basis for a project that brings together many disciplines. “We are stepping in with risk ourselves and are in it with full commitment,” says Van Oers. “We expect the same from the parties we work with.” In that attitude, both contractor ERA Contour and ventilation specialist Bemar recognize themselves all too well. “If you want to make something good together, you have to do it together,” says Nijssen.

No loose links, but one team

The method of collaboration differs from traditional projects, in which parties operate primarily from their own contracts. Here the emphasis is on joint responsibility. “We no longer work in hierarchy, but truly together,” says Weerdenburg. “You feel that together you are responsible for the end result.” Wesley Teunisse, Head of Realization at ERA Contour also sees this reflected in practice. “You start together at the first sketches and work it out from rough to fine. This prevents you from having to fix things later.”

Commitment in practice

That shared sense of responsibility is reflected in the way parties interact with each other. Problems are tackled together. “If something comes up, you look together at how to solve it,” says Nijssen. “Not from a contract, but from the question: what is the best solution here?” That attitude aligns with what Van Oers has in mind. “You soon noticed in the construction team that all parties contribute their knowledge. That makes all the difference in how quickly you can switch gears and how well things fit together.”

Increased grip through collaboration

According to Teunisse, this method also produces concrete results. “You get a better grip on the process. Because you coordinate early on, you avoid mistakes and ambiguities in the implementation. You share knowledge, coordinate better and get to know each other better and better. That makes the work more efficient and also more pleasant.”

A method of working beyond this project

For ERA Contour, Interduct and Bemar, their long-standing cross-project collaboration is interwoven with this way of working. In several projects, different subsidiaries of Interduct work as co-makers with regular partners. The Orchard shows what that yields. A project that is technically right down to the last detail, thanks to a process in which parties reinforce each other.