Five questions for
Sjoerd Keetels
The Dutch Environmental Database Foundation (Stichting NMD) celebrates its five-year anniversary. The foundation was established in 2020, but work on environmental data for the construction sector goes back much further: Stichting NMD originated from the Building Quality Foundation (SBK), which laid the foundation for the current system from 2011 onward.
5 years Stichting NMD!
Over the past five years we have achieved a great deal and much has changed. We have grown significantly and important steps have been taken to make circular construction a reality. This brings us closer to a sustainable living environment, for today and for the future.
Several people have been closely involved in these developments and in the growth of Stichting NMD. Over a period of ten weeks we will share the perspectives of ten of these people through a short interview based on five fixed questions. In this way, we present ten perspectives on five years of Stichting NMD.
This week we have five questions for Sjoerd Keetels.
Sjoerd Keetels works at Heijmans and is part of the team focused on sustainability and circular construction practices. In his role, he contributes to the delivery of projects with attention to environmental performance, biodiversity and climate-adaptive design. Through his involvement, Sjoerd Keetels represents within Heijmans the connection between construction practice, sustainability and environmental performance. His work therefore aligns closely with the objectives of the Dutch Environmental Database and the broader transition towards a circular and climate-resilient built environment.
1. How did you first come into contact with Stichting NMD?
From infrastructure projects starting in 2017, where environmental performance was explicitly requested. During that phase, I noticed that the NMD was the only place where reliable and comparable data were available.
2. In your experience, what has changed the most in your work or in the sector over the past five years?
In five years, sustainable environmental performance has evolved — in popular English — from a “nice to have” to a “license to operate.”
3. What change or development would you still like to see?
One clear point: more harmonisation and less noise. At the moment, there are still too many interpretations, exceptions and datasets that are not sufficiently comparable. A more robust set of rules, fewer variations and stronger control of data quality would help the entire chain move forward.
4. What are you proud to have achieved together with Stichting NMD?
That the environmental database is no longer a theoretical instrument, but a factor that genuinely influences decisions. By working together on better data quality, clear documentation and sector-wide guidelines, NMD has gained real impact on policy, design and procurement.
5. Where do you see Stichting NMD in five years?
Broader, more tightly managed, fully connected to European systems, and an indispensable building block for carrying out sustainability reporting.
Dit interview is onderdeel van een reeks. Over een periode van tien weken publiceren wij elke donderdag een nieuw interview.
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