Dutch Green Building Council gets new board members

The DGBC board has three new members. Two members are stepping down from the Dutch Green Building Council board. With this change, the board grows from five to six board members.

The composition of the DGBC board has changed as of June 2024. Two board members are leaving the board. They are Bas van Holten and Daphne Braal. Van Holten is nearing the end of his second term on the board and will step down after more than seven years. DGBC thanks him for his years of dedication and commitment. Braal currently fulfills the role of interim director at DGBC and for that reason will no longer remain as a board member. The three new board members are Dirk Dekker, co-founder and owner of Being; Jeroen Pels, Group Director Commercial at Triodos Bank and Lieske van Pelt, Director at CBRE Investment Management.

Holding on to value

Together with Bas van Dam, Dirk Dekker is founder and owner of Being, which develops real estate with the aim of creating positive impact. The company realizes sustainable areas and buildings that help people get the best out of themselves. A skill Dekker puts to good use in his daily work is finding the balance between commerce and impact. "The experience I have gained with that is something I would like to bring to DGBC. The violently changing economy and also the current political winds in the Netherlands and Europe have a lot of influence on achieving DGBC's goals. Especially now we need to hold on to the value of a sustainably built environment. DGBC can, by sharply communicating its knowledge and expertise, inspire the market to make the right choices." As director, Dekker wants to guide DGBC primarily in commercial thinking and action. "I think there needs to be even more focus within the foundation to successfully move towards a future-proof and sustainable built environment. Not only on content, but precisely also on commerce and data."

Chain collaboration

As Group Director Commercial at Triodos Bank, Jeroen Pels is responsible for commercial (impact) strategy, proposition development, portfolio management and marketing. On the DGBC board, he will focus specifically on finance & audit. "From my background, I hope to add value where chain partnerships and specifically the financial impact of sustainability investments are concerned. For years I've been frustrated by the fact that the positive financial side has not been sufficiently visible to investors. In the field of energy this is now going reasonably well, but in the field of material use there is still a world to be won. My experience is that financing requires a different approach and is still too often a bottleneck. I like the fact that DGBC does not focus on one theme, such as energy efficiency or use of materials, but looks holistically at all kinds of aspects. Think of circularity, quality of life, health of buildings, climate adaptation and CO2. DGBC is truly an institution, with a broad social agenda and a relevant network of chain parties. I therefore look forward to our collaboration."

Highest standards

Lieske van Pelt works as project director Amsterdamse Poort at CBRE Investment Management. She studied Architecture in Delft and has been working at CBRE IM since completing that study. Van Pelt sees a role for herself at DGBC in the areas of social sustainability and investment. "Within CBRE IM - an institute with mostly pension investors - I got a good feel for what investors find important. I have been translating our investors' interests into physical places for 10 years. We do this with the highest ESG goals, with the S playing an increasingly important role. I can bring this knowledge to bear." Sustainability is a main topic in Van Pelt's work and daily life. "In our work, the highest standards are expected with regard to building sustainability. There is also an increasing focus on what more we can do for the people who use our places. Translating this to the physical place is what I work on every day. I would like to share this knowledge within DGBC."