Van Norel Bouwgroep develops, builds, manages, and maintains construction projects across residential, healthcare, commercial, recreational, and industrial sectors. As part of its digitalization strategy, the company adopted Catenda Hub and Site as a central information source for all its projects. Here’s how the switch improved their information management and project communication.
Meeting the demands for quality housing
Based in Epe, Van Norel Bouwgroep employs around 80 people and contributes to the community’s housing needs – for people, businesses, and educational and care institutions. The family-owned company builds apartment complexes, children’s centers, school buildings, and sports complexes, including De Leeuwenburgh in Heerde, the Bosbad in Emmeloord, and the ’t Slath residential care center in Epe.
In recent years, Operations Manager Wout Oost and BIM Manager Daniël van der Voort set out to establish a single, central source for all project information and communication. “In every project, our client’s wishes, delivering quality, clear communication, and compliance with laws and regulations are central,” says Oost. “To continue safeguarding those core values in the digital age, we went looking for the best common data environment (CDE) for our organization.”
Easy access to project information
Catenda replaced five separate applications at Van Norel Bouwgroep. “The experience that employees who were initially critical of a new solution are now working with it enthusiastically is the best confirmation for us that we made the right choice,” continues Oost. “Because acceptance and learning to work with it went faster than expected, we signed a corporate license after just six months. For us, easy access to the latest version of all available information is the most important advantage. That prevents errors and simplifies the records we need for quality assurance.”
“It’s not just our own people who enjoy working with it,” adds Van der Voort. “Architects and structural engineers we collaborate with on projects are also enthusiastic about how easy Catenda is to use.”
Ease of use and open standards
Oost and Van der Voort assembled a cross-departmental working group – with representatives from estimating, project management, work preparation, and site execution – to evaluate options together. With support from an external partner, they narrowed a longlist of potential suppliers down to three.
“For our company, ease of use, open standards, and Dutch-language support are decisive,” says Van der Voort. “That’s what determines acceptance by all employees. In conversations with the shortlisted suppliers, Catenda came out on top. So we ran two pilots: one focused on the work preparation phase (new-build apartments Leeuwenburgh in Heerde) and the other on the execution phase (new-build homes Boeghaven in Zeewolde). Both confirmed the ease of use and applicability for our projects, and we chose Catenda Hub as our CDE solution.”
Lessons from the pilot projects
Work planner Evo Vijge tested Catenda Hub on the Leeuwenburgh project in Heerde. “The folder structure is clear and familiar – we already use it everywhere – so I can work with all available documents more easily and communicate about them with other stakeholders. For example, by clicking a few checkboxes I can quickly view everything that’s been submitted to the municipality. And Catenda has made a lot of communication via email unnecessary for me.”
Assistant site manager Wim Regterschot joined the pilot for the Boeghaven / Bij de Sluis project in Zeewolde. “I find Catenda Site a great application to work with on a tablet during construction. You can easily view 3D BIM models, quickly look up information during handover to answer buyer questions, and register completion points digitally. Many of the subcontractors we work with regularly are also enthusiastic about how easy it is to use.”
Catenda Site: early adopters in the Netherlands
Van Norel Bouwgroep is among the first Dutch users of Catenda Site. “Because we’ve been sharing our practical experiences from the start, user requests get picked up quickly,” continues Van der Voort. “That’s an added benefit of a supplier who’s open to feedback and also responds quickly to questions. The combination of Catenda Hub and Site allows us to digitize project information and communication in a consistent, complete way. Looking ahead, we want to expand Catenda further within our organization, including to smaller construction projects. And finally, we’ll of course also be looking at the AI functionality that Catenda is currently working on extensively.”
Image credit: © Van Norel Bouwgroep