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Sustainability

Sustainability isn’t just a passing fad for Cordeel. It’s at the heart of everything we do. Our mission is to build a smarter, greener future. We achieved the industry standard ISO 14001 accreditation for environmental management many years ago, and Cordeel Group’s reporting and activities are guided by several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In our periodic sustainability reports, we clearly outline our strategy, objectives and progress.

Sustainability strategy

Our goal is to create a better future. Sustainability is a top priority for us and our project partners, and we actively participate in discussions to determine how we may effect positive change. We are committed to significantly reducing the environmental impact of our operations. While we understand that this is a gradual process, we are continually working on innovative, high-impact solutions to achieve our goal as quickly as possible.

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BlueCity Rotterda Terras
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Sustainable developments

BREEAM projects 
Our construction and development operations help our clients deliver on their sustainability ambitions. This includes BREEAM projects with various levels of certification. Our in-house BREEAM experts collaborate with external advisers and consult with clients to determine sustainability targets. Furthermore, we have experience in merging several standards, such as GPR and WELL, and obtaining applicable government subsidies.   

Renewable diesel
We only use renewable HVO100 diesel to power non-electric equipment and generators. This diesel is made from hydrotreated vegetable oil, including used cooking oil and animal fat from food industry waste, rather than petroleum. We have already reduced our onsite carbon emissions by 89% thanks to HVO100. We can also report a significant reduction in nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. This equates to a 250,000 kg decrease in CO2 emissions per year!

Electric Volvo wheel loaders
In partnership with C-rental, we have recently expanded our machinery with several brand-new Volvo L25 Electric wheel loaders. Ultra-modern, all-electric technology with an impressive performance, without emitting a single puff of CO2. Green and powerful. This helps expand development opportunities in densely populated places, near Natura 2000 conservation areas and in noise-sensitive locations.

A new lease of life
Circular construction is becoming increasingly important. This is unquestionably a step in the right direction. We recently worked on a project for UBQ, an innovative company that has discovered a way to recycle non-recyclable household waste, and we proposed reusing old plasterboard from demolished buildings. We ended up repurposing 1,000 m2 of obsolete plasterboard with the help of Van der Wiel Complete Afbouw and Knauf, resulting in the use of fewer new building materials and significantly lowering the project's overall environmental impact.

Circular approach for BlueCity circular hubBlueCity, the leading circular economy hub in the Netherlands, chose Cordeel to renovate its outdoor space. For this project, we focused on minimising our carbon footprint. We used steel from a decommissioned North Sea gas platform and incorporated recycled wooden beams and underlayment. The benches and window frames were made in our own carpentry workshop, and the doors came from our storage facility. A uniquely sustainable approach thanks, in part, to the quick thinking of our in-house real estate service team.

Solar frame for onsite solar powerAll site huts need an electricity supply. We launched a pilot at our Vlissingen location to make our site accommodation less reliant on grid connections and generators. A site hut has been fitted with a robust frame incorporating solar panels. A Custom Containers innovation, the solar frame ensures that site accommodation can be supplied directly with green electricity. As the solar panels are fitted securely to the frame, they can be readily dismantled and transported. The panels can be fitted in different directions, resulting in optimal orientation for electricity generation per location. Ultimately, we want to fit solar frames to all unused site hut rooftops and further accelerate the energy transition.

Sustainability report

 

Focus for the future 

  • Carbon-neutral building sites: We aim to electrify our machinery. We will continue to use HVO100 diesel during the transition period until all our equipment is electric and emission free. Furthermore, we aim to implement sustainable energy generation and monitoring across all our sites.
  • Offices and fleet: We are working towards a fully electric vehicle fleet. All our office buildings are fitted with solar panels, and a ground-coupled heat exchanger has recently been installed at our head office in Zwijndrecht. Wherever possible, we will stop using gas entirely.
  • Material use: It is vital to further reduce the environmental impact from building materials. We are therefore looking at ways to increase our use of bio-based materials and demountable structures. We also aim to implement material passports for buildings.
  • Partnership chain: Our wide-ranging sustainability goals cannot be achieved alone. We need to work closely with our sub-contractors and suppliers. By optimally drawing on each other’s expertise, we will be able to make sound decisions regarding sustainability.

 

CO2 prestatieladder

CO2 performance ladder

Under the Cordeel Group umbrella, we will continue to strive to lower our carbon footprint. The CO2 performance ladder certification scheme will help us achieve our targets. This effective tool will assist us in implementing practical steps, sharing expertise and innovating. Our goal is to be completely carbon neutral by the end of 2027.

Would you like to learn more about our green goals? You can find further information below on our carbon footprint, campaigns and targets as well as on the initiatives we support in the construction industry.