A network is essential to find appropriate investments. Bouwinvest works closely together with other organisations to strengthen its levels of expertise and to exert influence. We therefore invest in long-term partnerships with a wide variety of other bodies. These bodies include local authorities, developers, universities, lobby groups, network organisations, pension fund asset managers and local interest groups.
The alliances which we want to maintain take different forms. We often participate in congresses, seminars and workshops. We work together with our partners to get the issues we all consider important on the agendas of the relevant stakeholders. We share our knowledge, and our staff are actively involved in work groups or in management.
Our vision on partnerships
To us, partnerships mean being open to the ideas and insights of others. We listen, we put ourselves in the other’s shoes and, if relevant, we will downplay our own interests to that of the collective. Working together is about making compromises and concessions. In addition, we believe partnerships only really work when both sides are prepared to be open and to share knowledge, and support a long-term relationship. We see working together as investing in each other, and this is an investment we are willing to make.
Sustainable partnerships
Bouwinvest’s investment strategy aims to create real value for life by generating social as well as financial returns. Our asset management activities not only contribute to a more sustainable, liveable and accessible urban environment, but also towards higher pension pay-outs. We are not doing this on our own: we have brought together a large network of parties with whom we cooperate in various ways to achieve our common objectives. We invest time and money in them as well as expertise because we believe that all parties and, ultimately, society, will benefit from them in the long run. For example, we partner with organisations such as ULI, Holland Metropole, IVBN and INREV, and we sponsor numerous charities who share our goal to give disadvantaged people around the world a roof over their heads.
Bouwinvest is a real estate investor who provides homes worldwide by investing in diverse and sustainable areas where people want to live now and in the future. Our sponsoring activities enable us to go a step further to support vulnerable groups with greater needs. In 2012, we started sponsoring a number of charities whose objectives are in line with our goal to provide the needy with a roof over their heads and, in that year, we became a long-term partner of the Homeplan Foundation.
In the past 10 years, we have helped build homes for a large number of families in Latin America and South Africa.
Marike van Seeters, Chief Executive Office of the HomePlan Foundation: "Bouwinvest has been a Long-term Partner of HomePlan for 10 years now and their teams have been on several house-building missions with us during this period. We have been able to count on Bouwinvest for help during difficult circumstances, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters. This partnership has been instrumental for us, in ensuring the continuity of our projects. Together, we are building homes and a future for the most disadvantaged people around the world."
Bouwinvest has long-term partnerships with three organisations: the HomePlan Foundation (since 2012), Museum Het Schip in Amsterdam (since 2020) and Stichting het Vergeten Kind (The Forgotten Child Foundation - since 2021.)
HomePlan Foundation
Stichting HomePlan was established in 1997 to provide the most disadvantaged people around the world with a decent roof over their heads. A house that can become their home and offer them a future. HomePlan always works with local partners to reach the most vulnerable and poorest people. This enables it to obtain the best available knowledge of local customs and culture and to offer social programmes in addition to accommodation. HomePlan raises funds for the housing projects and also organises home-building trips for volunteers on an annual basis.
Bouwinvest not only makes a financial contribution but also frees up two Bouwinvest employees every year to go on these house-building trips (temporarily disrupted due to Covid-19) to see the impact of HomePlan's activities first hand. Every staff member who participates in a HomePlan project mission returns as a 'HomePlan ambassador'.
Museum Het Schip
Museum Het Schip is located in a distinctively shaped public housing complex designed by architect Michel de Klerk and built in 1919 in the west of Amsterdam. This expressionist housing block was developed for the Eigen Haard housing corporation. The name of the building, which means ‘ship’ in English, is drawn from its unique design. The complex is a prime example of the Amsterdam School movement that swept through the Netherlands in the early 20th century.
The Museum’s objective to make architecture accessible to ordinary people and its link with the emergence of sound public housing explain why Bouwinvest wanted to become involved. Het Schip is a tangible example of liveable accommodation dating back to the beginning of the last century.
The Forgotten Child Foundation
A safe and loving home for every child is, unfortunately, not the reality for thousands of children in the Netherlands. The Forgotten Child Foundation fights for children who are struggling at home because of a multitude of problems in their family. Sometimes the situation is so serious that they can no longer live with their parents. The Foundation aims to give all these children a voice and allow them to be seen, to live in a safe and stable environment and develop as healthily as possible so that they can find their way in society.
Heppie (t)Huis
Heppie (t)Huis offers a safe and stable living environment for children who have been removed from their homes with a permanent team of social workers to care for them. The first Heppie (t)Huis was set up to show that things can be done differently and better and, in 2022, a second Heppie (t)Huis will be built in the Veluwe region in the eastern Netherlands. The plans involve a sustainable wood construction project and Bouwinvest will make a financial contribution through a sponsorship agreement.
‘We want everyone involved in our partnerships to profit from them’
Nicolette Klein Bog Head of Corporate Marketing & Communication