In mid-2015, Hans van Zijst was asked to set up environmental management in the Zuidas. Two major projects—urban development in the Zuidas and the construction of Zuidasdok—each with its own organization, in an area spanning several square kilometers around a very busy public transit and road hub, presented an enormous challenge for both communications and environmental management. Together with Alex Sheerazi (senior communications advisor at Buro de Steeg), he developed plans for a joint approach involving the municipality and the Zuidasdok project organization. After the plans were approved, Hans became the first Strategic Environmental Manager for both organizations in the Zuidas, tasked with actually implementing his plans.

In the years that followed, environmental awareness at Amsterdam Zuidas and at RWS/ProRail/Amsterdam grew not only in quantity but also in approach, collaboration with resident associations, businesses, other municipal parties, and many other stakeholders. Hans commented on this: “The ambition has always been to implement behavior and attitudes from the municipality and the Zuidasdok project organization towards stakeholders based on the same principles, even though the responsibilities differed.” With so many parties working within the area, this was not always easy, but where preventive management could not be exercised, lessons were learned from experiences afterwards and the approach was adjusted. In this way, a shared approach between the two organizations emerged organically.

Did that resolve all stakeholder issues? Hans: “No, absolutely not. The impact of the two major tasks on surrounding residential areas, on travelers, and on business users of the area is significant and deserves permanent attention. Amsterdammers live around the Zuidas who are not exactly waiting for the development of Zuidas, nor for Zuidasdok. They once lived on the outskirts of Amsterdam, but found themselves in a construction site of at least 20 years. This requires daily contact, accountability, information sharing; the entire arsenal of environmental management is needed to keep having a good conversation. As an environmental manager, you have to be able to handle that...”

Hans has enthusiastically dedicated himself to stakeholders for seven years. So why did he stop at the end of December? He started as an advisor with a clear mandate. As the years went by, management tasks increased, more time was spent on internal affairs, and the actual construction of Zuidasdok struggled to get off the ground for various reasons, causing his role to also shift towards the urban development of Zuidas. Hans: “At my core, I am an external advisor and want to maintain some distance from the organization I am advising. If you stay somewhere too long, that becomes increasingly difficult. With another year and a half to go before my self-chosen retirement, I want to tackle one more major advisory assignment. So it was time to make room for new things and say goodbye to this wonderful development area.”