Interbuild was founded in 1980 in Antwerp, Belgium, by Mr Eric Verbeeck and Mr Benoit De Landsheer, both already very experienced in the contracting and building industry at the time. They are now both members of the Board of Directors of the company, and Mr Tahon became CEO in 2007. Initially, the new company started with small projects, and with continuing hard work and showing respect for quality and timely execution of projects, Interbuild gradually became a leader in the construction market in Belgium. 

Mr Tahon recounts, “In 1998, Interbuild was acquired by the Royal BAM Group nv, market leader in all aspects of construction in the Netherlands and with a significant position in markets in the UK, Belgium, Ireland and Germany as well as further afield internationally. The Group started in 1869 as a carpentry workshop in the heart of the Netherlands, and is now active in the construction, property, civil engineering, public-private partnerships, mechanical and electrical contracting, consultancy and engineering sectors. With around 28,000 employees, BAM is responsible for the implementation of many hundreds of very large, medium-sized and small projects every year. Being part of the BAM Group bestows on us a number of advantages, including financial strength, greater flexibility and the ability to take on bigger and more challenging projects than we would otherwise have been capable of, and this is most important to our business. However, despite being a subsidiary company of BAM, we remain an autonomous company accountable for our own profitability. Interbuild has always expanded by organic growth, having started out from scratch, until we became part of BAM. We have about 60 engineers and 20 technical staff, as well as 170 blue collar workers. To be successful, we try to stay flexible and, to be competitive, we keep our overheads as low as possible and our site management closely allied to our office management.” 

Renovation work

Mr Tahon continues, “We act primarily as a main general contractor for non-residential building projects for the private sector, including new buildings and renovations of existing buildings. We also get involved in new commercial centres, leisure parks and hotels, and large industrial complexes. We occasionally operate on a design and build basis, but mostly we are part of a building team. Office blocks comprise about 75 percent of our work, and this gives us the necessary experience and credibility to stay ahead of our competitors in this area. 

One of our main projects was the renovation of the Finance Tower in Brussels, a contract worth more than €200 million. This initially required the removal of potentially hazardous asbestos, which took about a year. The second major undertaking was the installation of internal elevator shafts in the centre of the 145 metre tall building, starting from the top working downwards. This helped us to make up time with respect to the building schedule, and allowed us to finish the project two months ahead of schedule. With this particular building, the existing elevator shafts were on the outside in a concrete block which had suffered severe surface weathering. To compensate for the loss of space that the new interior elevator shafts occupied, we created some 20,000 metres extra office space as an additional small office block.” 

Mr Tahon adds, “Another of our prestigious projects was the remarkable Airport Garden complex in Zaventem near Brussels airport. This comprises seven new high-rise office blocks, a business centre totaling more than 100,000 square metres of floor space, a 314 room five-star hotel and an underground car-park. In the middle of the complex is a park with some small lakes, through which an old river meanders. To improve road access to the site, we built a tunnel on the approach road to the airport. 

 “An example of a major industrial centre we have done is the Nike Distribution Centre at Laakdal. This has a total area of 155,000 square metres, and was constructed in four quick stages due to the very restricted time schedule. We also renovated a city hall in Antwerp, known as the Stadsfeestzaal. This was originally a large hall, built at the beginning of the 20th century as a permanent site for official festivities, also including markets. It was during a Christmas market that disaster struck in December 2000, when a fire destroyed the hall, leaving only an iron skeleton. Since the building had been protected as a historic monument in 1983, developers were fortunately not allowed to tear down the building’s skeleton. Instead it was decided to reconstruct the building following the original 1906 plans and adapt it for use as shopping centre. Construction started in 2004, and in October 2007 the new Stadsfeestzaal reopened. The Stadsfeestzaal is still a great attraction thanks to its architecture. The building successfully combines the original marble staircase, mosaic floor, gilded facades and glass-domed vault with modern elements such as decorative LED-panels. The shopping centre is ideally located, and is home to about 40 stores, spread out over 20,000 square metres.” 

A Chinese connection

“At the beginning of 2009, we won a prestigious contract, together with Realys Group, for constructing the Belgian-European Pavilion for the Shanghai World Expo 2010. The Belgian architect, Christine Conix from Conix Architects in Antwerp, designed the Pavilion for us. It has an innovative design based on a brain cell concept that will be featured in the centre of the building as a large silhouette of a brain cell. This design reflects the importance of the organic world in our lives. The Pavilion will be built in the European district of the Expo Park and will be divided into the Belgium exhibition and the European Union exhibition. As Belgium will hold the EU presidency in 2010, the EU will join the Shanghai World Expo through Belgium’s Embassy. It will be the first time that the EU will be participating in a World Expo held outside Europe. More than 150 seminars and conferences will be held in the 5,000 square metre Belgium-EU Pavilion during the Expo. 

Construction started in June earlier this year and has to be completed by April 2010, as the Exposition opens at the beginning of May of that year. The ground-breaking ceremony of the Belgium-European Union Pavilion for the 2010 Shanghai World Expo was held in Shanghai on 5 August. 

“For the building of the Pavilion in Shanghai, we use local labour, for which we formed a joint-venture with Realys Group. Realys Group has links with a contractor in Shanghai and our Interbuild project director visits the construction site in China twice a month. In addition, sister company Tebodin, also part of the BAM Group, has been deployed to keep an eye on the Shanghai project.

“We have an energetic team of engineers and employees trained to handle big projects. We focus on large projects as these are logistically easier to handle than many small ones, as we can use one site director to handle each contract from start to completion, with a dedicated team according to the size and complexity of the project. Each director is responsible for the project’s budget, for planning, safety, quality and procurement. In addition, we work with a number of preferred subcontractors who know us, and they, in turn, work with other preferred subcontractors, which facilitates communication and collaboration between us and them. We can also rely on the BAM Group to supply our plant equipment, such as tower cranes. 

A combined approach

“Our main strength is the combined expertise and experience that we have in working as an integrated group of architects, engineers and subcontractors. The company is organised into a series of building teams that develop projects, undertake planning and have responsibilities to work to maximum budgets to enable us to exercise tight financial control over our activities. In turn, this allows us to be cost-effective as we pass on savings to clients by having low costs. 

This overall approach to business is facilitated by the fact that much of our work is undertaken for Kairos, our sister company and main customer, although we also work directly for many others. A further attribute is our policy of always respecting agreements made with customers and other contractors, which includes a promise to complete our projects either on time or ahead of schedule. Thirdly, we place much emphasis on quality, and our quality management systems for both planning and project execution are ISO 9001 – accredited. These properties allow us to transfer our experience to the building teams so that, in their budgeting, they can advise on any modifications to the project so as to provide the optimum quality/price ratio. 

“We are also very safety conscious, and we have implemented strict procedures for safety training, and safety is monitored and recorded continuously. As a result of these measures, our safety record has improved a lot. Our quality and safety records are audited internally, and also we are subjected to external audits by SGS twice a year. Over the last 10 years there has been no need for major corrective actions. We are also working on lowering our carbon footprint, by looking into reducing site electricity consumption and by reviewing our use of vehicles. In addition, we advise customers about how they can save energy by having building designs that increase insulation and reduce CO2 emissions, as well as by using efficient equipment and materials, such as adapted HVAC systems, glazing and facades. We provide clients with energy savings calculations over the projected lifetime cycle of a building. In order to do this, we keep abreast of the latest innovations in building design through our research and development department and discussions with our subcontractors, so that we can provide advice on the most modern equipment and facilities that are environmentally friendly as well as contributing to the level of comfort provided for the occupants. Our management systems have been certified by VCA (VGM Checklist Aannemers, Belgium), according to safety, health and environment criteria. With regard to the latter, we also have the ISO 14001 certification. 

Diversification

“The recession has had a serious effect on our business, and there has been a collapse in the number of projects on the market at the moment, especially with regard to new office blocks in the private sector. As a result, we are now also targeting more large projects for residential buildings and non-residential construction in the public sector. As a result of this change in focus, we have erected several prestigious buildings, including the Courts of Justice in Antwerp, Gent and Hasselt. In the same specilisation, construction is currently underway for a building to house the Flemish Administration in Leuven as well as a remarkable new museum for the city of Antwerp, called the Museum aan de Stroom. This is a joint-venture for the construction of a museum in the old dockyards alongside the River Scheldt and the building has already become one of the city’s brilliant new architectural achievements, with undulating bright glass facades. The museum will portray the history of life in the city, the port and its shipping and will open in 2010. 

“We have also already been looking into the residential market and recently we obtained a contract from the City of Antwerp to build 500 flats for the elderly. We are convinced that there will be more contracts of this type since there is a shortage of this form of housing within the city. In addition, the Flemish Administration is planning to spend €1 billion on renovating schools and building some new hospitals and prisons. 

“Our biggest challenge in the future is the lack of skilled personnel, even in a time of high unemployment. It appears that this is due to the limited number of people leaving university with relevant qualifications, together with the fact that those who are leaving with suitable qualifications are being diverted into professional jobs other than construction. In construction itself our engineers and technical staff have a difficult task in dealing not only with technical issues, but also with financial and planning issues and other matters. They have to be very flexible and I believe this puts many prospective employees off.” 

Mr Tahon concludes by noting, “We are number one in the construction of buildings in Belgium and in the top five for construction as a whole for Belgium.” With its forward thinking and its exciting plans for the future, it is very likely that Interbuild will increase its local market share still further in both the private and public sectors in the years to come.