Posted on July 20, 2026
At Meandering Meuse, the client – Water Board Aa and Maas – and Boskalis are not treating sustainable execution as an add-on to flood protection works. Using a stepped approach (see figure on page 24), the team integrates design optimisation, material choices, logistics and electric equipment into one continuous strategy. The result is a project currently under execution, in which close cooperation between the client and contractor enhances sustainable impact and leads to lower emissions.
Along an 18-kilometre stretch of the River Maas in Noord Brabant, the Meandering Meuse project brings together a 26.6-kilometre dyke reinforcement with water quality measures and 375 hectares of nature development in the floodplains. The project’s main objective is to protect the area from flooding, while also laying the groundwork for future nature development of the area.
What makes the project particularly relevant from a sustainability perspective, however, is the way the client and Boskalis are shaping the works: not through a single isolated intervention, but through a sequence of interconnected decisions that spans both the design and execution phases of this two-phase project.
This project approach (see box text) incorporates a wide range of sustainability measures across both the design and the execution phases. In the design phase, the design has been optimised together with the client to minimise carbon emissions. To further fulfil the ambition of both client and contractor for a sustainable project, the use of electric equipment in the execution phase was already calculated and financed during the design phase. With the execution of the optimised design and with electric equipment integrated into the working methods, the works are now being carried out in the execution phase.
Sustainability approach
The sustainability approach shown in the figure on page 24 has been used since the tender phase to visualise Boskalis’ sustainability approach. It outlines five steps – A to G – that organise the sustainability approach across the life cycle of the project. In the upper half, steps A, B and C belong to the design phase, during which the client and Boskalis focus on reducing carbon emissions through design choices and material strategy. In the lower half, steps D and E belong to the execution phase, where the team turns these choices into action through smarter logistics and the deployment of electric equipment. These choices regarding equipment were already made during the design phase. The figure makes a key principle very clear: sustainable execution begins long before construction starts.
Design phase (optimising design and preparing sustainable execution)
During the design phase, the client and Boskalis worked together to reduce emissions at the source. Step A focused on limiting the scope of both the river interventions related to the Water Framework Directive – the EU’s main law for protecting and improving the quality of surface water and groundwater – and the dyke design wherever possible. Step B focused on the local reuse of excavated materials, especially clay. Step C favours ground- and clay-based solutions over sheet piles wherever feasible, while ensuring that any required sheet piles are produced using scrap steel. These practical design decisions significantly influence the project’s environmental performance long before the first major transport movement takes place.
