"Why is building expensive?"

"Around 30% is wasted in construction every year. If we avoid this, we will suddenly be spending 30% and will also get a better product," said Herman Bessels, who mainly focuses on building in food and logistics with his architect and engineering bureau from Twello. According to the experienced architect there is a reason a lot of money is wasted. "Some is caused by the capricious market, but we are also not open enough to questions from clients and market parties. We too often answer questions instead of asking what is actually meant. In many cases companies can work with 60% of the surface is they organise things differently and smarter."

Herman uses a practical example from the start of the crisis. "We had a project with a growth component. Some things were handy but not 100% necessary. The banker said finance wasn't a problem but three months later said it would be better to look for a different financier. We then reduced the question to: what is actually needed and what is wanted? We then removed all bells and whistles from the project. The result was that the project continued with half of the volume. The other half of the factory has now been realised in China. This also took 50% of the production out of the Netherlands. What is wanted and what is needed?"

First computer
"Asking questions is essential. The first computer I bought was black with a red trim. The man who sold me it, didn't know what I could do with it and I didn't know what I wanted to do with it. I didn't understand automation, but found that I - at the start of the 80's - had to automate. As an architect you think: I might as well buy something that looks good. If it doesn't work at least I'll have something pretty," Herman remembers, laughing. "It didn't work for a minute, but it cost a lot of money."

"But this situation is still rife in construction. People buy what they don't need or get what they didn't ask for. We answer questions, without asking what is actually meant and whether it could be done differently. Asking the right question assumes that the asker knows what the possibilities are according to the latest technology. We find these problems in almost all industrial building projects. Customers often aren't brave enough to say what they think and therefore keep quiet. As an architect you can show a fantastic 3D logistics centre to a customer, but it's about being able to reduce things to the components that everyone understands, even if you have to do it with lego."

Helicopter view
"This is why it's so important to give a thorough, but also honest analysis of the plans. And to fight the correction battle if the assumptions turn out to be wrong. Experience is the sum of mistakes made. There is a huge need for people who can look at a project from a helicopter view and ask what will happen with a factory if the function changes in five years. We once built a new food factory in a logistical centre - because it was financed well at that location. The difference with a standard food factory in our case was that the ground floor, if the factory left, could simply be raised and the building could become a logistics centre again. Result: there was no investor for the food factory. We had multiple financiers for the food factory in a logistics centre. It requires a different way of thinking."

Appropriate comic on communication

"In recent years we have realised a lot of projects, which were locked down because of a lack of finance. But by asking very critically what was really needed, we have developed a technique to make plans that fit in with the budget and later it turned out that these were the plans that played into the future best," continues Herman. He compares it to a doctors appointment. "If you go to the doctors and say you have a stomach ache, it's up to him to find out what is wrong instead of you telling the doctor what to do."

"We often get the reaction from business that they expect an architect with pretty pictures, but one visited who actually asked what was wrong. And if we can create a factory with 60% of the surface asked for, finance will be more favourable, especially if you can save on reduced employees," continues Herman. This method of working doesn't harm the architects and engineering bureau. "We are lucky to have a lot of work. Especially in the middle segment, where directors/owners are brave enough to invest family money into a new company building. This gives a flywheel effect."

For more information:
Bessels architekten & ingenieurs B.V.
Domineestraat 10
7391GG Twello
Tel: 0031 (0) 571 - 27 56 97
www.bessels.com