Building a bridge between project and environment

Reinforcing the Lauwersmeer dyke obviously has quite an impact on the surrounding area. Add to this all the linking projects that hitch a ride with the reinforcement task and you can imagine that good coordination (read: optimal environmental management) is no superfluous luxury. Leave that to the experts at Syntera. The consultancy and engineering firm builds a bridge between project and environment, and does so in its own unique way.

Syntera is a known relation of the combiners in Combinatie Waddenkwartier, a partnership between Heijmans and GMB Civiel. "In the construction team phase, client water board Noorderzijlvest was in the lead for environmental management, but that baton would logically be handed over to the combination during the execution phase," says Tim Meijer, director of Syntera. "Because the combination couldn't organize that themselves, they started looking externally. We love to connect people and technology. We presented that to the combination, writing a vision document with a plan of action of how we would fill in the environmental management. Although such detailed preparation was not asked for, we did it very consciously. And with success, because both the client and the combination unanimously agreed that we should do it."

Positive reactions

Syntera is providing environmental management on the project from A to Z. "From both high-over at the strategic level, obviously in cooperation with the water board, to coordination outside," Tim explains. "We do that with a team of four people, including two environment managers, Meike Doornbos and yours truly, and two area coordinators. Marlene van der Linde and Erik Meijer. The area coordinators provide the connection with the people outside, passers-by and businesses. In this way we build a bridge between project and environment, and that works super well. Because we are visible to all parties outside, we experience a very cooperative attitude. We get a lot of positive reactions, and that's what we do it for."

Not difficult, but challenging

The reinforcement operation is not only geographically vast, but because of the various linking opportunities, it also has a huge variety of stakeholders, all with their own interests. Tim: "As a project team, you have to navigate between them and keep everyone happy. Add to that the fact that it is an area that attracts many tourists who are all guests in the area and take liberties that are sometimes not there. The area is so vast that you can't close it off squarely with fences, although that is done in some areas for safety reasons. But then, if people don't see activity, it is precisely important to keep communicating. We make sure that all that communication is in order, creating frameworks within which work can be done safely, but also allowing those around them to use the environment they hold dear, to work, exercise and recreate. That doesn't make it difficult, but sometimes challenging in an area on the border of land and water."

Man and technology

The way Syntera handles environmental management here on the Lauwersmeer Dam, they have been doing it for more than a decade. The company has been in existence since 2010. "We have been on the road for almost fifteen years. I started once, because I noticed that I like technology, but I like people even more," says Tim. "An average technician is completely zoomed in on technology. The trick, however, is to zoom out and look around you. We are able to translate technical issues into understandable language for non-techies, and ice versa. We provide environmental management as well as participation projects and civic initiatives where we translate a non-technical idea into a technical design. Syntera employs as many non-technicians as technicians. Together, they connect people and technology. That is unique. A lot of agencies focus on the content, we understand the content, but we also know how to make it understandable for people who do not understand the content. With us, people always come first. And that approach bears fruit, also here on the Lauwersmeerdijk."