We are optimistic about the outlook for 2025. We are well positioned in all three segments that Heijmans focuses on: Living, Working and Connecting. The economic and political conditions, as well as the long-term consequences of the recent nitrogen emissions rulings by the Council of State, remain uncertain, but there is widespread confidence in the solid foundation that we have laid with our ‘Together towards 2030’ business strategy. We will use that foundation to continue to build a robust and predictable Heijmans in 2025.
Over the years, we have built up a strong reputation, something we will continue to invest in during 2025. This is a prerequisite for attracting even more talent and working with chain partners on solutions for tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. Our strong reputation also strengthens the trust that customers, partners and shareholders place in us. That motivates us to excel even more as a sustainable leader and the creator of a healthy living environment.
Maintaining our focus
Last year, we fleshed out our ‘Together towards 2030’ strategy. We took measures to ensure the organisation is more aligned with this strategy and we made sure all our colleagues, supply chain partners and other stakeholders understand the importance of our strategic vision and our plans. We have translated the five pillars on which the strategy is built – Well-being, Sustainability, Connection, Producibility and Team – into various programme lines for each pillar. We will now flesh these out in the coming years. At the same time, we will continue to focus on the key issues that have been guiding Heijmans for some time now, such as improving safety, the margin-over-volume policy, a strong competitive position and, of course, client satisfaction. We are increasingly convinced that the rapid developments in AI could help us to strengthen our foundation. That is also why, in 2025, we will be even more committed to the use of AI applications, without losing sight of the potential risks.
Safety first
‘No Accidents!’ (Geen Ongevallen or GO!) will remain our guiding principle on the safety front in 2025. We will continue to tighten up the targets we have set ourselves to achieve this. We are placing greater emphasis on proactive safety leadership and expect managers to take a clear role in this. For example, discussing and practising safety behaviour will be an even greater part of training, career development interviews and performance reviews. GO! is the standard, but within that we will devote particular attention to managing our High Risk Activities (HRAs). It must become a standard practice to identify the HRAs in all project phases, to make them open to discussion – for example during daily start-up briefings – and to collectively decide on how to manage these risks. This is about a fundamental change in behaviour, which starts with knowledge and insight. We will share the tools we have developed for this with all our colleagues in 2025. These tools will help us achieve the desired level of optimal safety awareness. The collective response of ‘we will stop work if it is unsafe’ is no longer enough. This is why we are working towards a shared standpoint: ‘we will only start work if it is completely safe’.
Resilient
A number of industrial sectors are facing significant economic, geopolitical and industry-specific challenges. For example, the manufacturing industry in particular is under pressure in the countries around us. On a broader scale, higher production costs due to rising raw material prices, labour shortages and wage pressure are dampening growth. Due to increased demand in our operational segments, the impact on Heijmans is limited for the time being.
As a company, we are well positioned to tackle the challenges listed above; we are flexible and agile enough to anticipate these challenges if necessary. We benefit from the fact that we have spread our activities across the Living, Working and Connecting segments. This makes us even more resilient. We have a strong market position in all these sectors, which have traditionally been less dependent on industrial production and are mainly driven by structural trends in society. For example, the demand for housing in the Netherlands remains consistently high due to a shortage of supply, demographic changes and ongoing urbanisation. The required government investments in our country's infrastructure as a whole, replacement and renovation, the energy transition, flood protection and sustainability will also drive stable demand, even in times when the economy is not in great shape. At the same time, the impact of increasing macroeconomic uncertainty and the impact of legal rulings on nitrogen emissions, especially in the longer term, remain difficult to predict. Despite these uncertainties, the general market conditions for Heijmans remain favourable and are expected to remain so. We also benefit enormously from our drive to continue innovating, for example in circular construction and modular construction processes. This means we are better equipped to absorb rising costs and disruptions in our supply chains.
Harnessing our ingenuity and creativity
Making use of innovative modular concepts and standardisation where we can will also help us maintain our momentum in this time of increasing labour market shortages. We must use all our ingenuity and creativity to tackle the enormous challenges we face in the areas of housing shortages, infrastructure as a whole, expanding the energy grid and sustainability. Not only by fully committing to retaining and attracting talent, as we have in our new labour market campaign; we will also continue to commit to the recruitment of newcomers, for example. Their contribution to the development of the Netherlands is both wanted and very much needed. And as an employer, we want to go the extra mile to give them future prospects, not only as colleagues but also as residents of the Netherlands.
In 2025, we want to take significant steps forward by ensuring that people can live, work and connect in a pleasant and healthy environment. We are counting on a decisive and predictable national government, with an eye for the sustainable organisation of our country and the needs of citizens and businesses. It is good that there is a widely supported sense of urgency to address the issues related to the spatial planning of the Netherlands. As far as Heijmans is concerned, this appreciation should also be there for education, research and science. As a society, we must continue to invest in current and future generations to ensure we can face the challenges of tomorrow and the day after tomorrow with confidence. And as Heijmans, we are happy to contribute to this. Together, it’s possible.