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Halden & Rue
A-03 — StudioVeerhaven, Rotterdam

A small firmfor largeambitions.

Two members of the Halden & Rue team standing in an unfinished concrete structure
Fig. 01 — On site inside the frame of The Alder ExchangeRotterdam, 2022
01 — Founding storySince 1994

We started with one concrete mixer, one borrowed van and a harbour warehouse nobody else would touch.

Halden & Rue was founded in Rotterdam in 1994 by Erik Halden, a structural engineer, and Anouk Rue, a cabinetmaker who had trained as an architect. Their first job was rebuilding a collapsed grain warehouse in Delfshaven. It took eleven months, and it is still standing, now as a primary school.

Thirty-one years later we are forty-six people: engineers, site managers, carpenters and architects who work as one team from the first survey to the final coat of oil. Erik retired in 2018 and still visits every site on the day the frame is topped out.

Founded in Rotterdam
1994
People, one team
46
Workshops and yards
3
Countries built in
7
02 — PrinciplesFour rules, no exceptions
  1. 01

    Measure twice, build once.

    Every set-out is checked by a second surveyor before concrete is ordered. Mistakes are cheapest on paper.

  2. 02

    Craft over speed.

    We plan programmes that leave room for the work to be done properly, and then we keep to them.

  3. 03

    Honest cost, no surprises.

    Open-book pricing from the first estimate. Every change is priced in writing before it is built.

  4. 04

    Leave the site cleaner than we found it.

    Ninety-four percent of our site waste is reused or recycled, and the neighbours get the street back swept.

03 — The teamSix of forty-six

The people
on your site

Every project is led by a partner and run by the same site director from the first peg to the last inspection.

  • Portrait of Anouk Rue

    Anouk Rue

    Founding Partner

    Still signs off every drawing before it leaves the studio.

  • Portrait of Tomas Verhoef

    Tomas Verhoef

    Head of Structure

    Thinks in load paths, and sleeps soundly because of it.

  • Portrait of Ilse Brandt

    Ilse Brandt

    Site Director

    Runs a site the way a conductor runs an orchestra.

  • Portrait of Matteo Ferri

    Matteo Ferri

    Lead Architect

    Draws everything by hand first, always in pencil.

  • Portrait of Sander Kool at a workbench

    Sander Kool

    Head of Joinery

    Has never used a nail where a joint would do.

  • Portrait of Hanna Lindqvist

    Hanna Lindqvist

    Client Director

    Answers the phone on the second ring, every time.

04 — Credentials

Certified, insured and audited every year. Copies of every certificate are available on request.

  • ISO 9001:2015Quality management
  • ISO 14001:2015Environmental management
  • ISO 45001:2018Occupational health and safety
  • VCA**Safety, health and environment for contractors
  • PHIPassivhaus Certified Builders
  • CIOBChartered Building Company
  • Bouwend NLMember, Dutch building industry association
  • Insured€25M public liability, €10M professional indemnity