The Netherlands faces an urgent environmental and infrastructural challenge in phasing out natural gas amidst rising grid congestion. District heating systems offer a promising alternative by enabling the collective use of sustainable heat sources, stabilising the electricity grid, and increasing resilience to market shocks. However, despite national ambitions to expand DH networks by half a million new connections by 2030, the sector is currently in decline, hindered by regulatory uncertainties, market volatility, and the voluntary nature of participation. Against this backdrop, this research investigates the conditions that define successful collaboration in the development and operation of district heating networks. Grounded in collaborative governance and purpose-oriented network theory, the study adopts a qualitative, multiple-case design. An analytical framework was developed by combining Ansell and Gash’s model of collaborative governance with Berthod’s processual view of network dynamics. This framework was applied to three Dutch DH cases involving municipal, private, and end-user actors. Data collection included a literature review, 13 semi-structured interviews across the case studies, and 4 expert interviews. The analysis explored stakeholder roles, phases of collaboration, key success factors, and process tensions that shaped outcomes.

The findings reveal that successful collaboration is not a static state but a dynamic process extending from network initiation to exploitation. A central contribution of this study is the definition of a meta-condition for collaboration: individual goals serve as preconditions, while the shared goal acts as a catalyst. This meta-condition helps explain both successful cases and the sector-wide stagnation, where misalignment of individual goals undermines collaboration, despite consensus on shared objectives. Three consistent key success factors emerged across cases: goal alignment, trust, and commitment. Furthermore, nine process tensions, such as inclusivity versus efficiency, or autonomy versus interdependence, were identified as levers for improving collaboration when recognised and managed early. To support this, the study introduces a practical tool: a set of discussion cards for early-phase project dialogue. Expert evaluation confirmed the tool’s conceptual value.

Theoretically, this study contributes to the understanding of tensions as dynamic mechanisms rather than static barriers and advances the literature on collaborative governance by highlighting the evolving nature of stakeholder goals. The findings are most applicable to Dutch single-system district heating systems involving public-private collaboration and municipal engagement. While limitations include survival bias and national context specificity, the research lays a foundation for future investigations into failed projects, longitudinal dynamics, and cross-country comparisons. By demonstrating how tensions can be purposefully addressed through proactive design, this study repositions tension management as a practical strategy for strengthening collaboration in the Dutch energy transition.
... Read more

Dutch public electricity grids are increasingly constrained by congestion, while public transport operators (PTOs) and municipalities manage public transport electricity infrastructures with substantial unused capacity. This thesis explores how these assets could contribute to congestion relief by connecting (third-party) energy applications, while safeguarding power quality and reliable public transport operations.

The study first identifies and characterises candidate application types and their integration-relevant properties that influence technical feasibility and grid impact. It then analyses the main legal implementation constructions and their practical implications (Installation, Cable Pooling, Closed System recognition, and Direct Line), and distinguishes Congestion Management as an alternative approach that can relieve congestion without adding new external connections. Expert consultations and stakeholder interviews and surveys are used to assess what matters most in practice, map stakeholder’s roles and their views, and to further clarify how the system functions and where misalignment occur.

Synthesising these outputs results in a structured system overview and shows that the current situation is complex. The sector lacks a shared system understanding, sufficient internal capacity and knowledge to execute the required tasks, and stakeholder alignment, which currently hinders effective and responsible deployment of the infrastructure; this is compounded by a narrowed focus on legal constructions. Differences in network architectures and governance settings, stakeholder involvement, and legal options strongly influence what is feasible and how projects must be organised. The primary contribution is therefore a consolidated synthesis that clarifies the system and provides practical guidance for organising the process, structuring stakeholder involvement, and strengthening relevant technical and legal knowledge.

Finally, the thesis provides an additional outline for a context depended modular MCDA-based prioritisation framework that can be developed to prioritise candidate applications. The recommended decision sequence starts with technical screening to avoid unacceptable operational risk and disproportionate impacts on the public transport electricity infrastructure, before societal objectives are evaluated. It ends with a legal assessment to select a viable and the least complex connection method. Overall, effective use of public transport electricity infrastructure for congestion relief is shown to be primarily an organisational and governance challenge. ... Read more

The environmental impact of the construction industry has left its mark on today’s society over the last decades, also in the Netherlands. In addition, the Dutch construction industry faces a major challenge in the replacement and renovation (V&R) task of the current infrastructure. Among others, many viaducts will be at the end of their functional lifespan. A transition to a closed resource loop along with the V&R task provides the Dutch construction industry an opportunity to extent the lifespan of elements and objects of end-of-life viaducts and reuse them in new viaducts while reducing the resource flow and its environmental impact. Although many circular initiatives and practices have been researched and developed by companies, there are still certain barriers that prevent the application of them to realise circular viaducts. The objective of this research is to identify the existing barriers that hinder a closed resource loop to enable circular viaducts in the construction industry and contribute to the circular transition.

The main barrier of circular innovations in the construction industry is the balance between supply (availability of materials) and demand (circular requirements in tenders). A sufficient volume of reusable elements must be created. Meanwhile, circular requirements are needed in tenders for the application of these elements in projects, proper assessment tools must be developed, and additional regulations and legislation is needed. In addition, there are still uncertainties with respect to the material specifications, ownership and warranty and the business case. Reusable elements are more expensive as they need to be harvested. Supply chains and collaboration form such as consortia are needed as portfolio contracts will become the new normal. Transparency is needed between the stakeholders in the industry and knowledge should be shared among parties.

A change in mindset is needed. Clients must be willing to pay more for circularity and market parties should accept the uncertainties of the transition. Additional roles and expertise’s are needed within the industry and supply chains must be organized.
Appropriate circular assessment tools have to developed, other design strategies of resource flows may assist the transition to a closed resource loop system, asset management, and additional client perspectives.
... Read more

Contemporary project-based organisations recognise the importance of leveraging past project knowledge for competitive advantage. By leveraging the lessons learned from previous and ongoing projects, organisations can benefit from managing learning within and across projects effectively. Despite these benefits, challenges persist in effectively reusing captured knowledge. This qualitative study addresses this gap by investigating knowledge reuse in project-based organisations, with a focus on social learning mechanisms. The results underline the pivotal role of collaboration and social interactions in facilitating tacit knowledge sharing and reuse, along with the significance of learning on the job.

The research identifies drivers, barriers, and guiding principles for promoting knowledge reuse, addressing barriers such as motivation, resistance to change, and knowledge silos. Recommendations include establishing comprehensive databases, fostering collaboration, and strengthening Communities of Practice aligned with organisational goals. Moreover, the study emphasises that true organisational learning primarily occurs through social interactions, advocating for a shift from 'learning from repositories' to 'learning through social means.' It underscores the role of organisational culture, particularly trust, in enhancing learning and knowledge reuse, promoting personal networks, communities of practice, and blame-free cultures. Lastly, guiding principles advocate for both top-down and bottom-up approaches to foster knowledge reuse across all organisational levels. ... Read more

This research extensively examines the pivotal shift toward circularity within the European construction and building sector, with a specific emphasis on HVAC systems in utility buildings. It commences by underscoring the pressing urgency precipitated by the Paris Agreement of 2015 and subsequent climate objectives, necessitating reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and resource utilization. The construction and building sector's notable contributions to energy consumption, waste production, and material extraction highlight the imperative to address circularity within this industry.
The report delves deeply into the notion of the circular economy (CE), emphasizing its potential to disassociate economic growth from resource depletion and waste generation. While acknowledging the growing scholarly and corporate interest in CE, exemplified by industry giants such as Philips and IKEA, this study highlights the limited practical application of circular principles, particularly within the HVAC systems sector.
Recognizing the multifaceted and varying interpretations of circularity, the report seeks to demystify the concept by conducting a thorough literature review and interviews. Through a thematic analysis, it identifies existing challenges, proposes potential solutions, and evaluates the feasibility of implementing circular strategies for HVAC systems. Key findings encompass project-specific considerations, the influence of location and climate, and the imperative need for legislative reforms to expedite the transition.
Ultimately, the research provides a valuable starting point for MEP consultants, equipping them with a pragmatic decision support framework and a categorized repertoire of circular strategies. It encourages industry professionals to embrace circularity in HVAC design, bridging knowledge gaps and promoting sustainable practices. While acknowledging the study's limitations, including its qualitative nature and potential for bias, this study calls for future research to validate the framework through real-world cases, expand performance evaluation criteria, and advocate for policy reforms across the broader built environment. In summary, this study constitutes a vital stride toward fostering circularity and sustainability within the construction and HVAC sectors.
... Read more

The current market forces of infrastructural projects in the Dutch construction sector necessitate public clients to divide a large-scale multidisciplinary project into multiple contracts. This causes diverse contractors to have to work simultaneously. Interfaces arise between the contracts, which require a deeper collaboration to align all activities. Coordination becomes a very important factor in such projects. Current attempts to create better coordination focus mainly on clients' contractual and organizational measures. This research aims to map the importance of the human aspect within coordination and help a client organize itself to create a better coordination process. This is done by looking at the contractual and organizational instruments that stimulate coordination. Hereby, the organizational measures are divided into relational, personal, and governance aspects.

Through a literature review, the steering mechanisms for good coordination within the contractual, relational, personal, and governance contexts were established. A case study provided the issues of coordination in practice and laid down the basis of possible instruments to help a public client with the coordination process. The main takeaways were the misinterpretation and misalignment of the specifications of agreements, choosing the wrong coordinator, the lack of attention to relations, and the unclear governance from the client’s side. After this, a preliminary framework of the coordination process was reviewed through expert sessions. Together, this created the basis for the final framework of this thesis.
The key findings of this research were the need to facilitate coordination and collaboration during the pre-execution through requirements in the contracts and a start-up period with the involved clients and the co-contractors. During the execution phase key findings were the need to facilitate coordination and collaboration by the attention to the human aspect and its process, besides aiming for the best project result. This research contributed to the current literature by showing how the current coordination processes of a public client within the Dutch construction sector lack attention to the human side during projects.
... Read more

One of the ways that Transmission System Operators (TSOs) can become more sustainable is by integrating sustainable goals in their projects using the associated procurement and tender processes. However, there are several limitations related to this integration. This research aims to identify these challenges by looking at the Dutch TSO, TenneT and its specific context. Furthermore, the research aims to provide a decision-support framework through which these limitations can be countered and the integration of sustainable goals in projects can be achieved.
First, a literature study was conducted to define sustainability and the concepts associated with it. To properly understand the context of TenneT and identify the limitations associated with sustainability, company professionals were interviewed. This pointed to the need for prioritisation and gradual integration of sustainability measures. A desktop study was also conducted to identify the company’s sustainable goals, their associated measures, and their real-life applications. A decision-support framework for integrating sustainable goals in projects, based on Multi-Criteria Decision-Analysis (MCDA) was proposed. Using the Best-Worst Method (BWM), as the selected MCDA method, developed by Rezaei (2015), a sustainability workshop was organised where decision-makers from TenneT were asked to select relevant sustainability goals for TenneT, and the ones selected by three or more decision-makers were then used for performing the BWM. To avoid focusing on already well-performing sustainability goals, the performance of their associated measures was studied, using a Maturity Model based on the work of Silvius and Schipper (2015). Finally, an Importance-Performance Analysis (Martilla and James 1977) was performed, to assess future actions for each sustainable goal. The BWM showed that the Planet aspect was selected as the most important one for stimulating sustainability in projects. Additionally, Reducing Emissions was selected as the most important sub-aspect while in the People aspect, Health and Safety ranked first. The Maturity Model showed that the least integrated goals in projects are Human Rights, Labour Conditions and Decent Work, Energy Consumption, Materials and Natural Resources and Circularity and Waste. The BWM and Maturity Model also produced interesting results regarding the awareness of decision-makers and how they perceive sustainable goals and the performance of their associated measures in projects.
Based on the Importance-Performance analysis, the research suggests integrating the sustainable goal of Circularity and Waste in the company’s following projects. This can be achieved by using existing sustainable measures, such as the Raw Material Passport (RMP), in the tender process. Using measures such as the RMP in the pre-qualification phases or selection phase, as entry requirements with specific targets to be met, or as an award criterion, aiming to create added value for the project, can stimulate the contractors and suppliers to act more sustainably. This will in turn increase TenneT’s sustainable performance and will help the company meet its own sustainable targets.
... Read more