Week of 21 October
1. New BESIX office alert (Saudi-Arabia)
Yesterday, the new BESIX office in Saudi Arabia was officially inaugurated with our Group’s CEO Pierre Sironval and BESIX Middle East General Manager Peter Lembrechts in attendance, among others. This was an important moment for our colleagues in Saudi Arabia and was celebrated with a large branded cake. We wish our colleagues great success in their new office!
Fun fact: the new office overlooks the site of the Aramco Stadium, a 47,000-seat stadium that BESIX Middle East is constructing in Dammam (see last picture)!
2. Jacques Delens completes social housing project (Belgium)
In Ixelles (Belgium), Jacques Delens inaugurated the Waterloo 543 project, which they completed for BinHôme and the Brussels housing corporation SLRB. The project encompassed the realisation of 18 new social housing units and public spaces for the Ixelles municipality. Congratulations to the team of Jacques Delens for this achievement!
3. An innovative escape room used for safety training (the Netherlands)
In the Netherlands, BESIX NL is involved in redeveloping and widening a 7-kilometre stretch of the A27 motorway between Houten and Everdingen. This summer, an innovative approach to on-site safety training was introduced: a VR Safety Escape Room. In this game, participants face realistic safety hazards depicted around the Houtense Bridge area. The goal? To score as many points as possible and ‘escape’ from the virtual environment. It’s the first time such a safety training method is being implemented at an infrastructure project in the Netherlands. Well done, BESIX Nederland!
4. BESIX Watpac projects and colleagues win prizes (Australia)
This weekend, BESIX Watpac has won no less than four times at various industry awards across Australia:
- At the Master of Builders Association’s Excellence in State Awards for New South Wales, Sydney Metro’s Barangaroo Metro Station won the Site Safety at Commercial Projects award, and the Goodman warehouse 'Axis Alexandria' in Sydney received the Industrial Buildings award ($25 million to $50 million).
- At the Master Builders Housing & Construction Awards in Queensland, Brisbane Grammar School’s STEAM building took home the Education Facilities over $10 million award.
- Lastly, our colleague Emma Howard received a High Commendation for Achievement in Construction at the QLD 2024 NAWIC Awards (National Association of Women in Construction).
These accolades highlight our commitment to delivering exceptional projects with a focus on safety and collaboration, and to the very highest standard. A massive congratulations to everyone involved!
And then this… BESIX invited at state diner in Paris (France)
On Monday 14 October, King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium were guests of honour at a state dinner hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and First Lady Brigitte, as part of the three-day state visit of the sovereign to France. BESIX Group’s Executive Vice-Chairman Johan Beerlandt and his wife Mrs Beerlandt had the honour of being invited to this dinner held at the Élysée Palace, the official residence of the French President. Among the 180 guests also were Minister-President of Flanders Matthias Diependaele, and Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs Hadja Lahbib.
