BESIX

BESIX Group is a construction group based in Brussels,[1] one of the world's leading international contractors according to the ENR ranking.[2] Active since 1909, BESIX operates in Europe, the Middle East, Oceania, Africa, North America and Asia.[3]

BESIX Group S.A.
Société Anonyme
IndustryConstruction
Founded1909 (1909)
Headquarters
Brussels
,
Belgium
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Rik Vandenberghe (CEO), Johan Beerlandt (Chairman)
ServicesConstruction, Real Estate Development, Concessions & Assets
Revenue €3.33 billion (2019)
OwnerOrascom Construction (50%), Belgian nationals (50%)
Number of employees
14,000 (2017)
Websitewww.besix.com

Its achievements include Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower,[4] buildings of the European Parliament in Brussels,[5][6] infrastructure at the Charles de Gaulle Airport,[7] the renovation of the Atomium in Brussels,[8] the Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi[4], the Grand Egyptian Museum on the Giza pyramids plateau[9] as well as the world's largest Waste-to-Energy plant in Dubai[10].

In 2019, BESIX had a turnover of 3.33 billion euros and 14,000 employees worldwide.[11]

General information

BESIX operates in most sectors of construction,[12] including building, marine works, environmental works, sports and leisure facilities, industrial buildings, road, rail, port and airport infrastructure.[13]

In addition to construction, BESIX is active in real estate development, mainly in Western Europe, and manages concessions through public-private partnerships in Europe and in the Middle East.[14]

BESIX's subsidiaries include Six Construct in the Middle East and BESIX Infra, Cobelba, Jacques Delens, Vanhout, Wust, Lux TP, Franki Foundations, Socogetra and Van den Berg in Europe.[15] In 2018, BESIX Group acquired the Australian construction company Watpac Ltd.[16]

BESIX is owned 50% by Belgian nationals and 50% by the Egyptian company Orascom.[14] The Chairman of the Board of Directors is Johan Beerlandt and the CEO is Rik Vandenberghe, both of Belgian nationality.[17]

BESIX Group has signed an international framework agreement on fair labour standards with the Building and Wood Workers' International (BWI) trade union federation and with its European Works Council (EWC).[18] The group is a member of the United Nations Global Compact programme.[19]

Since 2017, BESIX has been an official sponsor of the Belgian football team, the Red Devils,[20] as well as of the Belgium women's national football team and the national youth teams.[21]

Major projects | Examples
Sheikh Zayed Mosque, Abu Dhabi
Atomium (Renovation), Belgium
Dancing House, Czech Republic
Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi
European Parliament, Brussels
Philharmonie Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Bahrain Bay: Four Seasons, Bahrain
RTBF-VRT Tower, Belgium
Grand Egyptian Museum, Egypt
Burj Khalifa, Dubai
The Address Downtown, Dubai
ADNOC Headquarters, Abu Dhabi
One Central Park, Australia
Princess Elisabeth Antarctica, Antarctica
Cleveland Clinic, Abu Dhabi
Tower Carpe Diem & Tower CBX-Dexia, France (La Défense, Paris)
Sheikh Zayed Bridge, Abu Dhabi
Dubai Tram, Dubai
Utrecht Central Station, the Netherlands
Rail Baltica's Riga Central Station, Latvia
Charles de Gaulle Airport (Terminal 2E), France
Brussels Airport, Belgium
Liège Airport, Belgium
Hamad International Airport, Qatar
Ronquières Inclined Plane, Belgium
Corniche, Abu Dhabi
Dubai Canal, Dubai
Fourth Lock of Lanaye, Belgium
Port of Antwerp, Belgium
Port of Zeebrugge, Belgium
Tanger Med I & II, Morocco
Port of Gdansk, Poland
Rod Laver Arena (Watpac), Australia
Al Janoub Stadium, Qatar
Suncorp Stadium (Watpac), Australia
King Abdullah Sports City, Saudi Arabia
Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
R.S.C.Anderlecht Neerpede & multiple works in stadium, Belgium
Standard Liège R-L. Dreyfus Academy, Belgium
Warner Bros. World, Abu Dhabi
Ferrari World, Abu Dhabi

History

BESIX Group was founded in 1909 by the Stulemeijer family under the name Société Belge des Bétons (SBB).[22] After the First World War, the company participated in the reconstruction of Belgian ports and waterways destroyed during the conflict.[23]

In 1920, the SBB expanded its construction activities into several European countries, particularly France and Spain, and then into Africa from the end of the 1940s.[24]

In 1966, SBB created a subsidiary, Six Construct, to take charge of major development projects in the Middle East: via Six Construct, BESIX became in the ensuing decades a driving force in the development of the Arabian Peninsula, particularly in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.[25]

In 1988, SBB diversified into the field of real estate development.[26] This branch would develop rapidly in the following decades via Betonimmo,[27] which later became BESIX RED, operating in various European countries including Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Portugal and Luxembourg.[28]

In 2004, 13 SBB senior managers, with the support of Orascom,[29] carried out a Leveraged Management Buy-Out. The group was thereupon delisted from the stock market[30] and renamed BESIX Group.[31] Johan Beerlandt, who had been with the company since 1974, became its new CEO.[32] In the following years, BESIX's turnover increased from 850 million euros in 2004 to 3.1 billion in 2011.[33]

In 2009, BESIX celebrated its centenary.[25] The anniversary coincided with the inauguration of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest tower in the world, built by BESIX in collaboration with Arabtec and Samsung Engineering & Construction.[34]

In 2011, BESIX entered the Australian market with its first major contract for marine infrastructure. In 2013, it strengthened its position in the country with a shareholding in Watpac Limited, an Australian company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.[35]

In 2016, the group expanded into Scandinavia with a first contract for road infrastructures and a viaduct above the Roskilde Fjord, in collaboration with Acciona Infraestructuras and Rizzani.[36]

In 2017, Rik Vandenberghe succeeded Johan Beerlandt as CEO of BESIX, after 12 years as CEO of ING Bank.[37] Johan Beerlandt became Chairman of the Board.[38]

In 2018, BESIX strengthened its position in Australia by acquiring, through a public takeover bid, all the shares of construction company Watpac Ltd.[39] In the same year, the group acquired several companies in Europe, including interior decoration specialist Flamant.[40]

Environment

In the Middle East, BESIX participates in the construction, management and maintenance of waste-to-energy and waste recycling projects[41][42], as well as wastewater treatment plants and water reuse facilities[43][44]. In Dubai, the group is notably building the world's largest thermal waste recycling plants[45][46]. In Ras al-Khaimah, BESIX is building and will go on to manage a plant to recycle household waste as fuel for the cement industry.[47]

In the Benelux region, BESIX has built energy-neutral infrastructure. These include sewage treatment plants[48] as well as tunnels[49]. In Belgium, BESIX's subsidiary Jacques Delens has notably built the first passive office building in Brussels[50] and has won the be.circular award in 2018 and 2019, an award which promotes circular economy in the Belgian construction sector[51][52].

In Cameroon, BESIX participates to the construction of the Nachtigal Hydropower Project[53], which will produce up to one-third of the country's electricity[54]. The group has also built one of the largest drinkable water plants in West Africa, in Ivory Coast[55].

BESIX participated in the construction of the first high-rise building in the world to obtain both LEED Platinum certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and High Environmental Quality (HQE) certification, for the Carpe Diem tower in the Parisian district of La Défense).[56] In Africa, BESIX has begun building one of Africa's tallest towers, the Mohammed VI Tower, which will also be one of the first high-rise buildings in Africa to achieve dual LEED Gold and HQE certification.[57]

Research & Development

BESIX has an internal engineering department which undertakes the design work and technical studies for its construction sites, especially for skyscrapers, marine infrastructures and civil engineering works.[58]

In 2017, BESIX became the first Belgian construction company and the first general contractor in Europe to achieve maximum certification level in Building Information Modelling (BIM).[59][60] In 2018, BESIX and its subsidiary Vanhout took awards – two gold and one silver award in all –, in each category presented at the 2018 BIM Awards.[61] In the 2017 BIM Awards, BESIX took awards in five out of six categories, also winning the BIM Award of the Year.[62]

In 2018, BESIX and Proximus, the leader in Belgium's ICT and Telecommunications sectors, set up a partnership to jointly develop a new generation of Smart Buildings, with priority to solutions promoting energy efficiency, comfort and safety.[63] In 2019, the companies inaugurated their very first smart building in Dordrecht, in the Netherlands[64].

Open innovation

In 2018, BESIX launched its own startup incubator, the Start-Up Accelerator.[65] The initiative, the first in Belgium in the construction sector, is open to mature start-ups from around the world in construction technologies.[66] BESIX provides the selected start-ups with financial and technical resources, tailored support and opportunities for on-site experimentation.[67]

The accelerator is part of the UNLEASH! program, a series of BESIX initiatives in the field of Open Innovation.[68] One of the UNLEASH initiatives is an internal accelerator, focused on ideas from BESIX employees. For example, the Clean Air project, developed by BESIX employees, has made it possible to create plant walls for tunnels and roads for treating CO2.[69] In Dubai, other BESIX employees have created a 3D concrete printing robot.[70]

Sponsorship

The BESIX Foundation operates in the sectors of the environment (renewable energies, waste treatment), education (literacy, vocational training) and construction (access to housing, sustainable construction). Created in 2009, it supports existing non-profit organizations, either through project financing or through skills provision.[71]

The BESIX Foundation also developed its own projects, including KiddyBuild and Right 2 Learn. Right 2 Learn organizes computer training for workers in the Middle East, while KiddyBuild organizes presentations on construction trades for students in positive discrimination schools in Belgium.[72]

In the sports area, BESIX has since 2017 been an official sponsor of the Belgium National football team, the Red Devils.[73] BESIX also supports the Belgium women's national football team, the Red Flames, and the national youth teams.[21]

Working conditions in the Middle East

BESIX Group is a signatory to an international framework agreement on fair labour standards with the Building and Wood Workers' International (BWI), an international trade union federation, and its European Works Council (EWC).[74] BESIX's commitment to international trade union associations follows regular criticism of construction companies and the working conditions of migrant workers in the Middle East.[75] The agreements signed with BWI are based on the respect of international standards and the conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO).[76]

  • In 2017, the Chairman of the ILO Governing Body highlighted the differences in working conditions of migrant workers in the Middle East from one company to another, taking BESIX as an example of one of the companies with good practices in the area.[77]
  • In 2019, the Director of Amnesty International in Belgium also presented BESIX as the example to follow in terms of respect for workers' rights, particularly in Qatar.[78]

Going beyond the ILO rules, BESIX has implemented various initiatives for the benefit of migrant workers, for example in terms of health coverage or quality of housing.[79] BESIX also organizes training courses for them in IT.[80]

On a number of occasions since 2013, Six Construct, BESIX's subsidiary in the Middle East, has been awarded the Corporate Social Responsibility label of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry.[81] The label is the highest recognition of Corporate Social Responsibility in the United Arab Emirates.[82]

In the Middle East, Six Construct has obtained the ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004 and OHSAS 18001:2007 certifications, relating respectively to quality, consideration of environmental issues and worksite safety measures.[83]

The group is a member of the United Nations Global Compact programme.[19]

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