Toespraak minister Schultz van Haegen bij het FIEC-congres

Toespraak | 11-06-2013

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning and welcome to the Netherlands in this special building.

For me – as a minister of infrastructure – its normal to be on muddy and windy places like riverbanks, dikes or road building sites. So, this is a special start of the day, as it is for you, I guess!

I thank Mr Brinkman for his invitation. This is his last FIEC Congress!

He has been the face of Bouwend Nederland for 18 years.

And I’d like to thank him for his tireless efforts for the construction sector, both nationally and internationally.

He clearly has great influence in the European construction sector, because he’s managed to bring the FIEC back to the Netherlands.

After 23 years it was high time.

I don’t know what happened then…

But I do know that 23 years ago Europe was a very different place.

The main issues then – back in 1990 – were the reunification of Germany and the conflict in the Balkans.

The European Community consisted of only 12 countries.

It still had its internal borders.

It didn’t have the euro.

The focus was on growth, not crisis.

And issues like climate change and water management still took a back seat.

I don’t think you would have chosen ‘water’ as a central theme then. But I’m delighted you have now.

Not just because of the extreme high water-level of the rivers nowadays. [speaking of timing!]

Not just because the Netherlands and water go together.

But because this choice shows that you see opportunities for your sector.

In my view, there are plenty of them!

The impact of climate change on areas like water management is an international issue. Every country is confronted with it in some way.

To tackle it, we need all the knowledge and expertise we can gather – so we can achieve realistic, feasible and affordable solutions.

And the construction sector is very much needed in this process.

Your congress comes at a good time.

Offsetting climate change is high on the European agenda.

On 16 April, the European Commission presented a European adaptation strategy.

Member states are being asked to have a national adaptation strategy ready by 2017.

So member states have great need of your knowledge and insight. Not just in the short term, but for some time to come.

This creates a huge opportunity for the European construction sector. An opportunity that the sector sorely needs.

Let me briefly tell you about the issues we face in this country – and the way we propose to tackle them.

In the Netherlands, we can never have enough water expertise.

That stands to reason in such a low-lying country.

One third lies below sea level.

And two thirds of the country is vulnerable to flooding – an area that’s home to 9 million people, and where 70% of our GDP is generated.

You may be planning to visit the Rijksmuseum, which has just reopened. As you gaze at Rembrandt’s Night Watch, you’ll be standing below sea level!

It’s vital for us to hone our expertise on water security and water technology yet further.

Because, like the rest of the world, the Netherlands faces two global challenges.

Firstly, demographic change.

More specifically, urbanisation.

Many cities are located on low-lying deltas.

According to the UN, by 2025, half the world’s population will live in flood-prone areas.

The second challenge is climate change.

This means rising sea levels,

longer periods of drought and heavy rainfall.

These changes confront us with new problems.

For example: all our cities are vulnerable to flooding, but also to drought.

A serious drop in the groundwater level has already caused around €5 billion of damage to buildings and infrastructure. [Through rotting piles and damage to foundations.]

We need the smartest technologies and the latest insights to devise the most efficient and affordable solutions.

One of those new insights is that having strong dikes to keep the water out isn’t enough.

We also need to capture excess water in built-up areas and use it at times of scarcity.

So we need to come up with smarter designs for our cities.

To make our homes and gardens climate-proof.

Consumers will be asking you how to do that.

How might our cities look in 2050? Let me show you.

[beeld 1: Rotterdam nu] This is the risk at present: flooding because of too much hard surfacing, too few green spaces and too little surface water.

[beeld 2: Rotterdam in 2050] This is what the city of the future will look like: more room for water, more soft banks, more water plazas.

[beeld 3: binnenplaats Rotterdamse wijk] This is an example of a building construction from the 80’s. There is a lot of space for new forms of water-collection. As you can see here

[beeld 4 binnenplein met waterplein] The same place, but with a big water-plaza, more shadow, the roof is used for water collecting and the water leads to the plaza.

[Beeld 5 kampen nu] Another example in another town: Kampen. This is the situation now.

[beeld 6: Kampen in 2050] And here’s what it looks like in 2050, with reflecting roof tiles, broader roof tiles, shutters to keep out the sun, ventilation chimneys.

And these are not just futuristic concepts.

We’re already building in a climate-proof way.

[beeld 7: drijvende woning IJburg]

We have floating homes, for example. Here’s one in Amsterdam’s IJburg neighbourhood.

And the design of new buildings on the seafront in Flushing allows scope for strengthening sea defences in the future.

They’re being built in such a way that the lowest few metres can be sacrificed.

And there are many similar instances in your countries. I keep hearing about innovative projects.

Like in Hamburg, for example.

But this integrated approach to water and spatial planning is still very new.

It hasn’t yet become second nature.

We still need a lot more knowledge. As well as more tools, more partnerships and more agreements.

Government has a role to play here.

By taking the initiative, providing incentives and making agreements.

We’re doing all these things right now.

We have made over 150 tools for climate-proof construction available online.

Available to everyone.

We’ve also set up experimental schemes whereby various parties – public and private – focus on concrete problems relating to water and space.

We’re also looking at the best financing models.

That’s how we’re trying to generate knowledge and get cooperation off the ground.

Ladies and gentlemen, this brings me to my conclusion.

The key is that all the parties involved, public and private – that’s to say architects, developers and builders – need to recognise the potential opportunities of climate change.

All parties – and that includes you – need to be inspired to seize those opportunities.

In the Dutch Delta Programme, which you shall be hearing more about this afternoon, authorities and business are working on ways of getting climate-proof construction off the ground step by step.

A common task lies before us. And it is not optional.

Especially not now that climate adaptation has been made part of EU policy.

All the member states have work to do.

The EU will also provide financial incentives.

This is actually a big invitation to parties like yourselves.

Because for good future-proof solutions we need all the enterprise and creativity we can find.

And there’s no shortage of that in your organisations.

I hope to hear a lot more from you. I also hope you won’t wait another 20 years before coming back to the Netherlands!

Thank you.