On Wednesday March 6th 2023 at EcoShape’s recently opened office in Amersfoort, Arjan van der Weck was officially recognized as the Director of EcoShape. He will work two days a week at EcoShape and the other three days he will continue to work on Boskalis Nederlands’ Zwolle-Olst dyke reinforcement project. “On the days I work for EcoShape, I take off my Boskalis hat,” he says. “That means that in my new role, I look for projects that we can work on with all the partners within the consortium, without any of the parties being able to do so independently.”
Arjan’s predecessor, Stefan Aarninkhof, is ecstatic for him to take over the position. “I have been working closely with Arjan in earlier employments at Deltares and Boskalis. I got to know him as a highly passionate, inspirational colleague with a sharp eye for NBS innovations on hydraulic engineering projects and a strong willingness to make them happen. Together with the excellent team in Amersfoort, I see him as the ideal candidate to shape the next phase of the Building with Nature program and strengthen the EcoShape community.”
While Stefan will miss working weekly with EcoShape, he is excited to move into his new role at Delft University of Technology as Dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences.
Get to know Arjan van der Weck
Arjan van der Weck is from Rotterdam, has a wife and two children and loves offshore sailing. Currently he is not only the director of EcoShape, but he is also engineering manager for Boskalis, one of EcoShape’s partners! Most recently, Arjan’s work focuses on complex civil construction projects executed by (international) joint ventures. These include the Fehmarnbelt tunnel construction project in Denmark – Germany and the Pulau Tekong polder construction project in Singapore. Arjan started his career working at Rijkswaterstaat after graduating from Utrecht University with his MSc in Physical Geography. Since 2008 Arjan has worked at Boskalis and before worked at another EcoShape partner, Deltares (which was then known as Delft Hydraulics). In addition to years of experience working at EcoShape partners, he was also member of the EcoShape core team from 2012-2018.
“Since the early days of establishment of the EcoShape consortium and setting up the Building with Nature research programme – now more than 15 years ago – the initiative has grown into a worldwide movement. At present more than before, Nature-based Solutions are a requisite for optimisation of marine infrastructure and the protection of humans and nature. I am truly proud at the role EcoShape played in this and it feels good to join the consortium once again. I am looking forward to be this closely involved in the next steps of its development!”
Arjan van der Weck
The EcoShape Consortium
EcoShape – Building with Nature is a network of 12 organizations across disciplines (engineering consultants, knowledge institutes, contractors and NGO’s) working together to advance the application of Building with Nature in water related societal issues. The consortium consists of Adaelta, Arcadis, Boskalis, Deltares, HKV Lijn in Water, Royal Haskoning DHV, Sweco, One Architecture, Van Oord, Wageningen University & Research, Wetlands International and Witteveen+Bos.
