ARNHEM, Netherlands,
March 24, 2010 /PRNewswire/ --
ARCADIS (EURONEXT: ARCAD), the international design, consulting,
engineering and management services company, and UN-HABITAT, the
United Nations agency for human settlements, launch today a
three-year collaboration aimed at a common goal: to improve the
quality of life in rapidly growing cities around the world. By
becoming a main partner of UN-HABITAT, ARCADIS will commit its
staff members, expertise and skills to help bring the UN-HABITAT
mission forward. ARCADIS already supports UN-HABITAT with setting
up a program for the sustainable rebuilding of the cities of
Haiti, which were destroyed during
the earthquake last January.
One of the biggest challenges of this century is the improvement
of the quality of life in the rapidly growing cities all over the
world. The world has entered the urban millennium as for the first
time in human history more than half of the world's population
lives in cities. Almost one billion of them live in slums and
substandard housing. If nothing is done, this number will double in
the next thirty years. As one of the leading companies in the world
providing professional services to improve the quality of life of
people, ARCADIS is well positioned to support UN-HABITAT to address
this urgent challenge. ARCADIS' talents span the fields of
infrastructure, water, environment, buildings and urban planning at
the highest levels.
There is a close fit between UN-HABITAT and ARCADIS as both
organizations focus on the improvement of the urban environment.
Harrie Noy, CEO of ARCADIS says:
"Our skill set matches with the needs of UN-HABITAT, allowing us to
offer exactly the type of expertise and experience it needs. These
can be put to excellent use in helping UN-HABITAT meet the needs of
the fast-growing cities in the world. The fit between our two
organizations is made even better by the fact that UN-HABITAT is a
global, accessible and above all flexible and efficient
organization that has a good reputation."
Drawing on the expertise of ARCADIS in the field of building,
urban planning, water management, infrastructure and environment
the partnership between UN-HABITAT and ARCADIS will focus on two
activities. The first activity is participation of ARCADIS
employees in UN-HABITAT projects such as the recovery program for
Haiti where they bring in their
expertise. A second will be transferring expertise in urban
planning and development by organizing seminars for city officials
from around the world, for example in the field of climate change
adaptation.
ARCADIS will also become a main sponsor of the World Urban
Campaign, an initiative from UN-HABITAT designed to raise public
awareness and to address the social, economic and environmental
challenges of urbanization.
Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director of UN-HABITAT explains the
importance of the partnership with ARCADIS: "UN-HABITAT operates
all over the world and there is an increasing demand for our
services. The more we can share innovation and expertise, the more
effective we can be. ARCADIS is a very important partner which is
open to sharing its knowledge and spirit of innovation with the
rest of the world and we'd like to facilitate this sharing
process."
The cooperation of employees with different skills from
different countries in project teams, will also have a positive
impact on ARCADIS. By combining different efforts and resources
throughout the company, this will be the single largest commitment
in the field of social responsibility of ARCADIS. This shows the
commitment of the company to improve the human habitat.
About ARCADIS:
ARCADIS is an international company providing consultancy,
design, engineering and management services in infrastructure,
environment and buildings. We aim to enhance mobility,
sustainability and quality of life by creating balance in the built
and natural environment. ARCADIS develops, designs, implements,
maintains and operates projects for companies and governments. With
15,000 employees and EUR 1.8 billion
in revenues, the company has an extensive international network
that is supported by strong local market positions. Visit us at:
http://www.arcadis.com
About UN-Habitat:
UN-Habitat is the lead UN agency for housing and urban
development. Its mandate is to promote public policy and public and
private investment to make our cities and towns socially more
inclusive, economically dynamic and environmentally sound. It is
headquartered in Nairobi Kenya and
has 400 core staff and up to 2,000 project staff at any given time.
Visit us at: http://www.unhabitat.org
PRN NLD