The future of Building with Nature

2020, the Grande Finale year of EcoShape 2.0

Grande Finale meeting at Spoorwegmuseum Utrecht, January 2020

The year 2020 was the final year of the second Building with Nature knowledge development programme we started in 2014. The programme was built on more than 10 pilot projects, such as the Marconi salt marsh pilot and the mangrove restoration pilot in Indonesia. In each pilot, the functions and effects of a specific Nature-based Solution were monitored and measured. We translated the developed knowledge into concepts, enablers, and design guidelines, which we published here on our website.

Henk Nieboer and Peter Glas during the Road to CAS2021 event, October 2020

2020 was also the year of communication for EcoShape. During the year, the website and guidelines were completely rebuilt to make them more accessible. We organised a series of webinars, and we published our book ‘Building with nature, creating, implementing and upscaling of Nature-based solutions’. The year culminated in the Road to CAS event on October 22 and the Climate Adaptation Summit on January 25, 2021 where we officially launched the book for an international audience. Thus far, already over 400 copies of our book have been sold.

The future of Building with Nature

Pioneer salt marsh near Marconi Delfzijl

After 2020 the Building with Nature programme will continue as an ‘innovation ecosystem’. All partners in this ecosystem have the ambition to contribute to the global goals by creating the conditions to realise Nature-based Solutions in the water sector on a landscape scale. The partners in this system (private & public actors, knowledge institutes & NGO’s) will gather around thematic tables to further develop the concept of Building with Nature in knowledge programmes, pilots and projects. In a strategic community, individuals with interest in Nature-based solutions and Building with Nature will exchange knowledge, explore networks and develop new ideas.

Join the innovation ecosystem

If your organisation is interested to join the innovation ecosystem, please contact us for the possibilities and conditions. You can also join our community as an interested individual. Contact us via [email protected].

Keep an eye on our future newsletters, in which we will inform you about where the new formula is heading.

Cooperation with DEAL

The office of DEAL in Hendrik Ido Ambacht

In March 2021 EcoShape will move office and set up shop at the office of Deal Drecht Cities, the promotion and acquisition organisation of the Drecht Cities region. The reason for this move is that Deal and EcoShape see potential benefits and complementarity in cooperation. Deal has recently hired a business developer Delta Technology, Arjen de Jong, who will be engaged to deepen the business ecosystem in this field in the Drecht Cities region. It is expected that EcoShape may benefit from these activities and that the work of EcoShape will contribute to the success of Deal.

New address and telephone number for EcoShape from March 2021
Noordeinde 109b
3341 LW  Hendrik Ido Ambacht
The Netherlands
Tel. (+31) 06-18 74 99 48