Custom interior for Shell Netherlands headquarters in The Hague

'Custom interior construction is more than just carpentry'

Keijsers Interiors produced, built and installed the custom interior for Shell's monumental 'C30' building in The Hague on behalf of contractor De Vries & Verburg. "It includes special elements with unusual dimensions," he says.

The renovation of the building at Carel van Bylandtlaan 30 is part of a larger plan: to redevelop and make the entire Shell campus in The Hague more sustainable. The renovated office offers employees of Shell's Dutch headquarters a safe and pleasant workplace. "A huge project with a long lead time, where good preparation is half the battle. You obviously have to deal with applicable protocols that have to be well observed. The project also fell in the middle of corona time, which made for extra challenging circumstances. Looking back on this beautiful project, we found it a fine collaboration with our client De Vries en Verburg and we are proud of our people, the project team involved," says manager communication & internal sales Willemien Botermans of Keijsers Interiors.

From nautical ceiling to ship-shaped furniture

To show just how big this project was: the building has five floors including a basement and covers an area of 25,000 m2. Keijsers Interiors installed the window paneling for 540 window frames, improved acoustics by installing acoustic walls in all meeting rooms and provided the custom furniture. From upholstered benches and a stand to complete pantries and counters in the company restaurant. Each floor was given its own theme with a social meeting place. Botermans: "All the themes have a nautical atmosphere. For example, we made a baffle ceiling in a wavy shape and in the company restaurant there is a huge serving counter in the shape of a ship. Including the preparation, we have been working on it for about two and a half years. Quite a project, but with a very nice result. We even received a 9 from De Vries & Verburg for our work."

More than carpentry

All parts are made in Keijsers Interiors' own factory in Poland. "Custom interior construction is more than just carpentry. Because there are very special elements with special measurements, there is a lot of fitting and measuring involved. Sometimes you have to be creative and come up with solutions on the spot. The logistics were also sometimes a challenge because of the size of certain pieces. Our project managers have a connecting function between all parties on such projects. We worked on this, excluding our assembly teams, with a permanent group of eight people. From sales, calculation, engineering and production to the supervision and installation of the project."

 'Value engineering'

Even before the start of production, Keijsers Interiors also has an advisory role in projects. For example, about which materials are the best choice for a particular element or what can be done better and more sustainable: value engineering. "In this project we used sustainable wood with FSC certification.More and more new building materials are arriving, such as pressed paper as a base sheet material or recycled plastic." For the project at Shell Netherlands, the interior design was done by architect Jacobs, who also came up with all the custom furniture. "A lot is possible in terms of design in interior design. Also, materials are becoming more innovative, more durable and stronger. Very cool to see that the interior construction industry is also making great strides in the area of sustainability. For example, we now make standard quotations with the more sustainable solutions as alternatives."

Big names

Keijsers Interiors is one of the largest interior builders in the Netherlands. Its global clientele includes hotels, retail chains, museums and healthcare institutions.The company employs about 130 people, both in the factory in Poland and at the branches in the Netherlands. The company's origins are in the south of the country. In Utrecht is the experience center of Keijsers Interiors. Botermans: "There we help roll out concept developments with inspiring ideas and applications."

Keijsers Interiors provides custom interiors for companies such as Booking.com, Abercrombie & Fitch, Dille & Kamille, Corendon, Van der Valk and the Hunkemöller stores.