Thijs Huijsmans holds an MSc degree in Structural Engineering and is a Senior Consultant on Circular Construction at Heijmans. His work involves strategic development on circularity for the real estate, residential and commercial building departments, innovation management and consulting on tenders and projects.

Since 2020, he has become one of the key circular built frontrunners at Heijmans. Thijs is strongly inspired by Cradle to Cradle and strives for the fully closed material cycles in a built environment. Due to his background in structural engineering, Thijs is well aware of a huge environmental impact of materials such as steel and concrete. Therefore, his goal is to transform the sector in a way that material flows provide positive impact on the environment. Thijs believes that this goal can be achieved, if the sector embraces adaptive and futureproof buildings, follows circular business models (including residual as well as environmental value) and provides full transparency in material information management.

Heijmans mission is to create a healthy living environment and to move to a full circular construction by 2023. The role of a contractor, therefore, is not only to ‘stack stones’ but to critically determine the background of materials and to enhance construction processes that promote re-use in the future. Thijs calls this new role ‘Mastering Material Flows’ and he is making progress embedding this approach within Heijmans’ DNA.