Koldo van der Wielen
What’s it like to work at Bulsink? Who better to answer that question than our own people. In our employee stories, we want to give you a behind-the-scenes look at our corporate culture. Today we’re speaking with Koldo van der Wielen, Senior Project Engineer.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
“My name is Koldo van der Wielen. I am 46 years old, born and raised in Berghem and I currently live in Heesch with my girlfriend. We’re crazy about travelling. And we also love game nights with friends, going to festivals, barbecuing together with friends and family. I’m actually a really social person.”
“And I do sports: football. I also train a youth team at our club, my nephew’s team. Although, “nephew” – he’s basically an adult now. Because I’ve been doing this for 12 years now, since he was six. I’ve watched those little guys grow up into full-grown men.”.
What I like most is the collegiality. The atmosphere in the team is really worth its weight in gold.
How did you end up working at Bulsink? And why did you choose Bulsink at the time?
“I used to work in regular contracting. Residential and commercial construction. And in the last few years only private construction and renovations. At a certain point, I was sort of done checking the measurements of window frames, the heights of the brickwork and the floor slabs. General contracting just wasn’t my thing anymore.”
“It was through a secondment agency that I was invited for an interview with Bulsink. That was a really good talk. I wasn’t familiar with the retail world yet, but the projects appealed to me enormously. Bulsink gave me the chance to work in France on projects for Rituals. A big name, a big challenge abroad. It was an easy decision to make.”
“After a year they gave me a permanent contract and now I’ve been working at Bulsink for six years. I still really enjoy my job. We have grown fast in the meantime. When I started, there were about 20 of us in the office. And now? Maybe around 75? We’ve also pulled in a lot of cool projects and great clients. “But what I like most about this company is the collegiality. The atmosphere in the team is really worth its weight in gold.”
What’s it like working as a Dutch Project Engineer in France? And could you tell us a bit more about your job as Project Engineer?
“You have to find your own way in a country that has a different way of working and completely different mindset. I learned a lot from that. In France, and also in Switzerland by the way, I worked very closely for five years with Ramon, one of our Project Managers. He taught me the tricks of the trade. And it sometimes cost a good deal of blood, sweat and tears. But when I see how many shops we managed to build in just a few years, often in the most beautiful locations… Sure, that’s something we can be really proud of.”
“My biggest project now as Senior Project Engineer is with 2theloo, an operator of public toilet groups. We are renovating the sanitary facilities of Shell and Total petrol stations for 2theloo and are developing a new concept that will soon be rolled out across Europe. I do this together with our Project Engineers and BIM Modellers. Engineering all the details. And scheduling everything well in advance, so that our suppliers know exactly what, when and how they have to deliver.”
“I’m also working on – and have worked on – a number of other projects. For T-Mobile, for Dr. Martens. The construction of the first L’Osteria in the Netherlands. And Vegan Junk Food Bar in Eindhoven, which I was also part of.”
“We always pull out all the stops to make sure we meet the schedule without losing sight of quality.”
Bulsink uses B.U.I.L.D. as its core values: Brand-conscious, Ultra-fast, Inspiring, Leading and Determined. Can you pick out one or two core values and explain what they mean to you?
“Then let me say Determined. You always have setbacks to deal with in our business, especially when developing a new concept. Or working in unknown territory, like during my time in France. But we always pull out all the stops to make sure we meet the schedule without losing sight of quality.”
“After Determined comes Leading in my view. As a contractor, we take charge and the responsibility of managing all the parties involved. The client perhaps doesn’t always want to let go completely, but we’ll always take the reins to the extent that it’s possible.”