Rejuvenation warrants continuity at Bessels

Bessels architekten & engineers has its 40^th anniversary in October. ‘My ambition is to continue for many more years’, says founder and owner Herman Bessels, who will be 70 soon. But he does not do this on his own: as of 1 September 2019 participation partners Cordy Volkers and Elko Bootsma will be at the helm side by side with Herman.

In the office in Twello, where we are together on a fine summer afternoon, there is a positive atmosphere. All three men exude a passionate enthusiasm, despite their sobriety; both feet firmly on the ground. Herman is glad that the participation has been arranged well. ‘It wasn’t simple’, he looks back. ‘For a marriage of two people it is already difficult to arrange all things well, with 3 it is even more complex. I preferred to have a simple document of a few lines, the most important one being ‘a deal is a deal’. But it does not work that way. Everything must be written down and legally warranted.’

Own team

What Herman finds the most important is that there is blind faith and that you always solve things together. ‘That you know of each other: whatever happens, we will fix it together.’ So it comes as no surprise that the participation partners come from the own, close-knit team: Cordy and Elko are familiar faces at Bessels Architects, having been employed for 20 and 5 years respectively. ‘Whoever works here, does not only work for pay, but because the work adds something to who you are and want to be’, Cordy declares. ‘In the case of applications, we not only consider education and experience, but also ‘does he or she fit into the team?’ If not, it will never work. If yes, the rest will follow by itself.’

Inspirator

Bessels architekts is, as the three say, a ‘no-nonsense club’, but an ambitious one: trend-setting and with progressive solutions. Several recent large projects attest to this, such as the freezing warehouse of Aviko in Steenderen, Zandbergen in Haarlem and the commissioning of the new production location of Euroma in Zwolle; ‘We are indeed at full steam’, Herman laughs upon hearing this list, with the emphasis on ‘we’. For the fact that Cordy and Elko have signed the legal participation book, does by no means mean that Herman is out of the picture now, on the contrary. ‘I will stay involved, as an inspirator in particular’, he explains. ‘As I will be free of lots of organisational matters, this will give me space for developing ingenuity. After all, we want to design buildings with a score of 10, based on the idea that a 9 is a 10 of which you have wasted a whole point.’

Cordy, who has built up an extensive network through the years as project manager, is going to focus on acquisition. ‘Big companies have an obligation to make purchases from a particular supplier, which does not always produce the best solution. We have 40 years of knowledge and skills, know the pitfalls when designing and building a food factory, we know where the bottlenecks are. We are good at putting together the best knowledge management team for each specific client.’

Herman adds: ‘Simple problems must be solved in a simple way. If it becomes very complicated, we seek, for the best solution, a specific adviser with the right knowledge. We have an extensive network. That keeps us flexible.’

Hands-on and ‘can do’ mentality

Elko: ‘The way Herman thinks and works is different from what I have seen in other firms. At Bessels it is: ‘Hands on. Do it. Don’t nag, just do’. Have a heart for the food sector, know what they need: that’s what it is about. We are not philosophising all the time, do not want to design the highest, most beautiful, most fancy buildings. What do we want? Just build good and food-safe buildings that can be used for years to come.’

Herman: ‘Our ambition is that the Netherlands will acquire a name in this in the same way that Switzerland is famous for its watches. The quality must never be questioned. And, yes, we are sometimes a bit defiant in that’, he admits honestly. ‘We do not always do exactly what our clients have asked us to do. Not blindly, in any case. First, we want to know: what is it they really want? It is about having guts and thinking out of the box, provide different ideas. And yes, from our experience we know that you sometimes have setbacks, but that is no problem. By having an open discussion, you can achieve the best result together. Cordy and Elko have the guts for that.’ Elko: ‘It is often only the initial costs that are considered, while another solution, which may be more expensive now, may repay itself quickly. For instance, constructing a shorter walking route from the production to the changing room and canteen: that may be a minute and a half less walking time for employers each time. That may not seem much, but just calculate what it yields in profits on an annual basis for a team of 30, 6 times a day, 7 days a week’.

Time-proof

What is the architect most proud of after 40 years? Herman: ‘That we have built up a long-term relationship with many companies. For instance, for Ruitenberg Ingredients the third factory, for Zandbergen Haarlem the second and for Elburg Foods the team is working on the 9^th expansion. Vion has been a client for 35 years and with Aviko we have a long-term relationship as well. It feels good that they continue giving us their trust’. The fact that many of their projects still function well after many years, and still look great, is something the three men are also proud of. ‘Reusability is becoming more and more important’, says Cordy. ‘Euroma is a fine example of current modular construction. It is designed in such a way that investors are happy too. When the business grows, each component can be extended seamlessly. And if Euroma wants a different function for its buildings, the offices, logistic halls and production hall can be simply split, separately from each other. A food building that can only be used for food production is not affordable anymore.’

What will change now that the management team has been expanded? For clients not much, all three men think. Unanimously: ‘We will continue designing food-safe, reusable, and thus time-proof buildings; buildings with which our clients will also be prepared for the future’. Cordy and Elko finally, both with a broad grin: ‘We are looking forward to it, we will go ahead full throttle!’.

www.bessels.com