OSS' construction company celebrates 100th anniversary

The Osse construction company Berghege exists 100 years this year. What began as a one-man business has grown over the past century into a specialist in building for healthcare. "This milestone deserves to be celebrated," says director Tom Bongers. "At the end of last year we kicked off our anniversary year at the Christmas party, it's a whole year of celebration."

Bongers continues, "In May this year, we enjoyed ourselves tremendously with all our colleagues and their families on our family day. Because, we also achieved this achievement thanks to their commitment and loyalty. It was a top day!" All clients and relations were also involved in this milestone. One of Berghege's ongoing construction projects, the Walkwartier in Oss, served as a party venue during the relationship event. A day later, during the Day of Construction, everyone could get acquainted with Berghege's work. "With over 2,500 guests, that too was a huge success!" 

In 1924, Hent Berghege took his first steps as a self-employed person, on Begijnenstraat in Oss. His (grand)children took over and worked to grow. Healthcare has had Berghege's attention from the beginning. One of the first clients was the Sint Anna hospital, which is where the passion for care was born. Bongers: "Later, through our work for Organon and MSD, we had a lot to do with clean rooms. They have a lot of common ground with ORs which allowed us to use that expertise in healthcare as well." This is how Berghege focused on building hospitals, among other things. 

The care provided must often continue during construction. This makes the work environment complex. "The client's work process is completely central," Bongers explains. "Berghege thinks along at every stage, from design to execution to maintenance and aftercare. We have to deal with sustainability and increasingly flexible, patient-oriented care, and all of this has to fit within the structure of a working hospital. We can provide the specialism required for this through our total package from a strong engineering department to craftsmanship on the construction site."

To further strengthen the position and take on large ambitious projects, the decision was made in 2019 to continue together with Tilburg family-owned Heerkens as Berghege Heerkens construction group.

The Rijnstate Hospital in Elst is a good example of what the Berghege Heerkens construction group is capable of. The new outpatient clinic for day treatments had to have a sustainable and all-electric energy solution. Moreover, as part of the development, Rijnstate had the ambition to realize an emergency power supply and energy bank based on green hydrogen. "We demonstrate our added value by consistently acting as a reliable and accessible construction partner. Clients get a permanent team that can switch quickly due to our short lines of communication," Bongers reveals. Currently, the construction group is building the Franciscus Hospital in Rotterdam. The new building makes the renewal of healthcare possible: it is more compact and sustainable. The replacement new building further meets the latest innovations and operating room techniques, is equipped to provide optimal care and meets the latest sustainability requirements. "What remains despite all the innovations in construction is craftsmanship. In recent years, we have been focusing specifically on growing our craftsmanship in healthcare construction. We want to continue to meet the specific demands there so that we can continue to build on the future together with our team," concludes Bongers.