This project researches a sustainable district heating system in the Dutch city of Tilburg, developed with our consortium partners.

The vision includes both ecological and social sustainability, and functions as the starting point for all parties involved to cooperate toward a sustainable and carbon neutral heat provision.

Overschie is a neighborhood in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, with unique properties:

• surrounded by highways and an airport
• environmentally compromised
• Public health challenges
• a village within the city
• high social capital

Social housing organization Woonstad and the city council of Overschie want to make this neighborhood more sustainable, but where do they start? To answer this question we did a quickscan of the neighborhood to find its opportunities and made a custom inspiration book filled with possibilities to work towards a sustainable city district. Read below for more info, and of course, download the book!

We developed a roadmap of the Dutch meat process sector, production and processing companies and their suppliers, together with DNV. The road map shows opportunities for optimal use of all energy and material flows in the product chain of chicken, pork and beef, and maps their sources. The maps bring insight to all stakeholders involved, and enables decisions on improving entire sections of the production chain at once.

Together with MODINT and DNV we mapped the Dutch carpet sector and developed a road map to a circular carpet industry in 2030. We used system mapping and visualization techniques to bring at-a-glance insight to the stakeholder meetings. With this insight we plotted interventions to transition the industry towards a circular and bio-based industry within two decades.

Van het Zuiverste Water (translates in 'From the Purest Water') was a stakeholder trajectory led by Stadsstromen to help the Municipality of Almere futureproof their water management approach. Except was asked to assist during several meetings with expertise in illustration, design and stakeholder engagement.

Polydome is a revolutionary approach to greenhouse agriculture that offers the possibility of commercial scale, net-zero-impact food production. The Polydome system strategically interweaves a wide variety of crops and animals, taking advantage of every inch of the greenhouse while eliminating the need for synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.

Polydome is an answer to a part of the world food crisis. With its high yields (60 – 90 kg per square meter), and diverse outputs (over 50 crops, two mushroom varieties, chickens, eggs, fish, and honey), even a small Polydome system can sustainably provide a varied food supply for a large population. Scalable. Profitable.

Polydome has been extensively researched by Except and over 12 partners in the industry. Concept overview and technical details are published in a free open source book, downloadable below.

On 17th April 2015, IUCN organized the Leaders for Nature forum in Eindhoven. Except supported IUCN in a year long trajectory to prepare and guide the Forum in a new format. This included concept development, stakeholder involvement and preparation of the challenges.

The preparations resulted in 10 challenges brought in by the network of Leaders for Nature. Over 150 participants from business, NGOs and government joined the forum. Guided by Except, teams worked on the most pressing natural capital challenges.

We developed a sustainabile conversion and development plan for the post-war social housing area Schiebroek-Zuid in Rotterdam.  The project provides a flexible and exemplary roadmap for converting the neighborhood into a self-sufficient and sustainable area. It applies innovative energy solutions, urban farming, social and economic programs, secondary currencies, and adaptive redevelopment strategies.

This project was commissioned by housing corporation Vestia and agricultural research network InnovatieNetwerk.

Greenprint features over 150 pages of innovations in our homes, cities and daily life. From eco-houses and neighborhoods to streetlamps activated by moonlight, social innovations, urban agriculture and much more. Greenprint shows how sustainability can change your world from the smallest to the biggest scale.

Amsterdam Schiphol Airport was born at Schiphol-Oost, over 100 years ago. Today it is a business park that could use more atmosphere and vision. With limited identity, it does not distinguish itself from other business parks in the surrounding area. In collaboration with Schiphol Real Estate (SRE), Except developed a vision and strategy for Schiphol-Oost for the coming 5 to 10 years. The vision transforms Schiphol-Oost to an innovation-garden for the entirety of Schiphol, named Pioneer Park.

The Utrecht Community (UCo) is a national center for sustainable entrepreneurship in the city of Utrecht. UCo  brings together 180 pioneering sustainable entrepreneurs and SMBs, and facilitates them  in an exemplary sustainable and inspiring building. UCo is a place to develop, discover, and accelerate together, 5 minutes biking from central station. Except developed UCo independently, and opened its doors in 2017. 

We’re working with Schiphol Real Estate and more than 70 stakeholders and experts on boosting sustainability and performance of the Schiphol Central Business District with the concept of a Catalytic multi-tennant office design.

The project realizes an integrated sustainable and self sufficient area, that is a healthy and inspiring place to work, with a footprint of over 20.000 m2 in an unprecedented sustainable and future proof building.

For Staatsbosbeheer  (the Dutch nature management agency), Flevoland Province, and the municipalities of Almere and Lelystad, we developed a vision document for the future development of Oostvaardersplassen National Park in the Netherlands. The document offers a vision, mission, performance goals, and principles for a national park that will be internationally acclaimed by 2030 for its ecological sustainability, societal value, and economic resilience. A accompanying Inspiration Booklet introduces interesting practices from around the world to offer inspiration and specific  ideas for actions to realize the formulated perfromance goals.