Ackermans & van Haaren in Southwest Europe. European cooperation before its time

Dirk Podevijn

Ackermans & van Haaren is today a major player in a wide range of sectors, including dredging and construction, private banking, real estate management and development, healthcare, renewable energy, sustainable agriculture and media. The company has an impressive history dating back to the second half of the nineteenth century. It was then that Hendrik Willem Ackermans and Nicolaas van Haaren built up a company specialising in hydraulic engineering, initially operating mainly in Belgium and the Netherlands. But their ambitions extended much further.

Ackermans & van Haaren in Southwest Europe. European cooperation before its time examines the group’s activities in France, Spain, Portugal and Ireland. What was the role of Ackermans & van Haaren as a ‘fellow traveller’ of leading French construction companies in Southern Europe and Ireland? To what extent did difficult times have an impact on the execution of hydraulic engineering works?

This book is part of a series of publications on the earliest history of Ackermans & van Haaren (1850-1950). The group originated around 1850 from a Dutch company that evolved from land-based contracting to marine contracting and went on to specialize in marine engineering. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the group extended its geographical scope from Europe to Latin America, Africa and Asia.

DEME (Dredging, Environmental and Marine Engineering), a subsidiary of Ackermans & van Haaren, today boasts unrivalled experience in marine engineering and is one of the most successful companies worldwide with a centuries-old tradition.

• Dirk Podevijn

• Hardcover

• 232 p.

• 125 ill.

• 210 x 260 mm

• English

• ISBN 978-94-6436-836-9

• Release: 15 October 2026

• Also available in French and Dutch