WILLEMEN GROEP is one of Belgium’s largest family-owned construction groups. Its fourth generation saw it gain lots of momentum, partly thanks to the acquisition of construction companies such as Franki (1998), Cosimco (2005), Groep De Waal (2005) and road builders Aswebo (2011) and Aannemingen Van Wellen (2014).
Kumpen (50% share of the group since 2011) is fully integrated from 2018. The construction company Willemen General Contractor and Kumpen’s construction department merged to become Willemen Construct on 1 July 2018. Similarly, road builders Aswebo and Aannemingen Van Wellen have also merged with Kumpen’s infrastructure department to become Willemen Infra. These two mergers means we can better coordinate our activities and simplify our group structure in order to serve our customers even better.
You can find out all about our activities and ambitions on this website. Our continuous investment in complementary construction activities under one roof has given us a unique advantage. We build, do infrastructure works, use renovation techniques and have a project development cluster within the group. This brings knowledge and competence together in enthusiastic teams that can help shape the landscape of tomorrow. Why do we do it? Well, because it’s in our DNA: at Willemen Groep we want to build a bridge with future generations.
How do we do it? By being able to rely on 2,300 enthusiastic employees who work together on numerous impressive projects. It’s not the stones we use at Willemen Groep that make the difference, but all the talent we have under our wings. This enables us to complete more challenging and complex projects successfully, and also means our group has not gone noticed abroad. We’re experiencing increasing demand from emerging foreign markets, which is helping us achieve our international growth ambitions.
In 2013, the Willemen Groep received the prestigious ‘Company of the Year’ award – a distinction we’re very proud of as it symbolises our dynamism and entrepreneurial spirit.
Tom Willemen is our CEO. He succeeded his father Johan at the head of the company in 2016. Johan Willemen, who is now our chairman, is focusing on expanding the group abroad.
2,300 employees, 750 million euro turnover
Willemen Groep has 2,300 employees and also creates indirect employment for a multiple of that number. A number of impressive projects are being realised across all the branches, which together represent annual revenue of 750 million euros. Examples of these projects can be found here.
Willemen Groep International
Our many impressive Belgian construction projects have not gone unnoticed at an international level. More and more often we are asked to participate in challenging foreign projects. In recent years we have been increasingly active abroad: on the one hand to shape our growth plans and on the other hand to respond to the increasing demand from a number of emerging markets.
Especially in Africa, Willemen Groep wants to use its expertise, but there are also activities in Central and Eastern Europe. Our added value here lies in our excellent know-how and project management, together with the involvement of local people and resources.
A prestigious international reference is certainly the embassy which we built in Kinshasa. This is a double first: it is the first Belgian embassy that also accommodates Dutch and Luxembourg diplomats and the first passive building in Central Africa. In the port of Tangier, on a 53-hectare site, we are currently building a new container terminal with 1,200 metres quay length. It will be the first automated container terminal in Africa.
