insight #6 collaboration

TACKLING MORE COMPLEX PROJECTS:

THE ART OF WORKING ACROSS TEAMS

A MERGER OF THE BEST PROCESSES:

CLIENT RELATIONS ARE IN OUR DNA

TEAM MOTTO IN TOUGH MOMENTS:

“WE MEET OUR CHALLENGES IN A POSITIVE SPIRIT”

COLLABORATION

INSIGHTEMPLOYEE MAGAZINE#06 JANUARY 2016

INSIGHT #062 3COLLABORATION INSIGHT #06

22 ELEVATING MARKET SYNERGIESGet insights about why relations building and customer focus remain the key to unlocking Ramboll’s full potential.

32 AGENDALocal news with global reach.

14 A BATTLE WITH A JOINT FORCES VICTORYFourteen specialists from Norway and Denmark had to rethink and create innovative and integrated solutions for a new Oslo landmark.

04 COLLABORATION BUILDING BLOCKSGet an overview of the tools that the organisation provides for us – and the mindset we all need to have to collaborate effectively.

2

CONTENT

04 COLLABORATION BUILDING BLOCKS 06 “WE MEET OUR CHALLENGES IN A POSITIVE SPIRIT”The team behind the rail project West Link had to keep a positive, relaxed, solution-oriented climate. 08 THE ART OF WORKING ACROSS TEAMSGet inspiration from some of the top performers on collaboration. 11 VOXPOPWhat is collaboration to us?

12 TACKLING ASIAN WEATHER TOGETHERA promising project gives Ramboll the chance to realise synergies.

14 A BATTLE WITH A JOINT FORCES VICTORY

15 FROM ACQUISITION TO COLLABORATIONA friendly face to explain it all.

16 CLIENT RELATIONS ARE IN OUR DNA ENVIRON built its global success on becoming a trusted advisor.

18 A CHANGE THAT SMOOTHENS PROJECT WORK

22 ELEVATING MARKET SYNERGIES

25 “TOGETHER WE WILL PUSH RAMBOLL FORWARD IN THE UK”Interview with Robert Arpe, acting Managing Director in the UK.

26 INNOVATION CHALLENGE SPARKS NEW PARTNERSHIPSRamboll's idea competition engages employees and creates productive alliances across country borders and sectors.

30 THE FINNISH FORMULA FOR SUCCESSPassion, persistence and spirit are keywords for Markku Moilanen.

32 AGENDA

COLLABORATION#06 JANUARY 2016

MINDSET

18 A CHANGE THAT SMOOTHENS PROJECT WORKThe new organisational setup for the Ramboll Engineering Centre (REC) will introduce more one-to-one communication.

Cover: Anna Margrethe Wegeberg Nebel,Senior Consultant, Ramboll ManagementPhotographer: Djan Hyldgaard, Danica Reklamefoto


ALL YOU NEED IS… COLLABORATIONOne of Ramboll’s key selling points is our ability to deliver integrated solutions that fit the client’s characteristics and needs. Whoever the client and whatever the project, we have the capability to bring in competencies from all over the world.

All it takes is collaboration – across competencies, national borders and cultures.

This also goes for the way we deliver our projects. Whether big or small, projects have one thing in common: Their realisation is the result of teamwork. Being able to deliver the right quality on time and on budget requires a team that works efficiently together with a common focus on the client’s needs and success.

There will always be barriers to collaboration. IT infrastructure and communication channels could always be improved, our internal price mechanisms could be better aligned, we speak many different languages, and so on. But our mindset is the most significant barrier to collaboration. If we make collaboration an essential part of how we think about our colleagues and ourselves, our goals will be easier to achieve.

It takes courage to collaborate. When reaching out to a colleague, I might reveal that I, myself, do not have all the necessary knowledge. I may even run the risk of having to hand over my project to somebody better suited to delivering it than I. But the upsides are much bigger than the downsides.

Collaboration gives me a broader perspective as a professional. It opens the door to more knowledge and insight than I can gain working on my own. Last but not least, it is better for our clients – and thus for all of us at Ramboll.

I encourage you to find inspiration in this sixth issue of Insight about collaboration. A lot of good advice fills these pages, especially when it comes to defining clear targets and responsibilities and respecting each other’s professionalism and differences.

Enjoy your reading!

Jens-Peter Saul, Group CEO

With 13,000 colleagues in 35 countries there are good stories to be told all around us. Please send your feedback and input for future stories to [email protected].

Group Director, Corporate Communications & Branding: Morten Peick (resp.)

Chief Editor: Michael Rothenborg

Project Manager:Louise Lyngaa

Writers:Morten LundLouise LyngaaJesper Toft MadsenNicki MarshIna Johanne MønstedMichael RothenborgKarina Smedemark Martin Zoffmann

Art Director: Nana Keiding, Lone Olai

Photo credits:Dreamstime, Alexander Ørstrøm BjødstrupLars Wass, Code Arkitekter,Sweco, Abako ArkitekterTomi Parkkonen, Umm Al Qura,Ramboll

CEO Jens-Peter Saul in dialogue with colleagues in the UK.


PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS

What does it take to work together at Ramboll? Why is collaboration important? And how can we make it easier? Collaboration gives us new insight and understanding, and enables us to deliver the best possible solutions to our clients. However, collaboration can be difficult. It requires the right mindset, processes and tools. The following offers an overview of the tools and processes the organisation provides for us – and the mindset we all need to have to work effectively together.

TECHNICAL PLATFORM

INCENTIVES

IncentivesIn 2016 we will see incentives that make it more attractive to collaborate across units. Our intercompany trade regulations will be changed to make collaboration more profitable, and our strategies and priorities will be better aligned, which will create more systematic collaboration.

Professional standardsJoint standards and procedures, common design manuals and ways of following up on projects streamline collaboration.

Technical platformLync, video conferences, OneDrive file sharing and Ramlink are all platforms that facilitate collaboration. The Networks Portal brings together employees that share common professional interests – everyone can join an existing network or initiate a new one.

By Louise Lyngaa


MindsetCollaboration is part of our mindset at Ramboll. In our work, we are expected to consider what is best for Ramboll as a company. We should see Ramboll as one company no matter which unit or professional area we are part of. The company has grown, but our ambition is still to reap the benefits of our synergies and for us to work together across technical and geographical borders.

Build relationshipsSpend time on and prioritise relationships, build a network and engage socially with the people around you – create a common language despite different professional backgrounds.

Be open-minded Be curious, inclusive and empathetic. Make an effort to understand others, and accept that there can be more than one right way of doing things.

MINDSET

BE OPEN-

MINDED

COMMUNICATE

BUILD RELATIONSHIPS

CommunicatePrioritise communications, listen and pay attention to others, express your opinions clearly and have the courage to ask the more difficult questions. Involve others in discussions and make time to understand other people’s needs.

PLEASE ASK YOURSELF:

• Is this the optimal solution for the client?

• Can I increase our sales by collaborating?

• Does anyone outside my business unit have knowledge about this?

• Am I available for collaboration?

• What can I do to contribute more with my own knowledge?

• What does collaboration look like in my unit?

• What is collaboration to me?

INSIGHT #066 COLLABORATION

For their design of the Haga underground station, the group behind West Link won the World Architecture News Transport Award for Future Projects in 2014.

“WE MEET OUR CHALLENGES IN A POSITIVE SPIRIT”The international team behind the complex Swedish rail project West Link had to keep a positive, relaxed, solution-oriented climate even in tough moments.

7INSIGHT #06

MEETING PUBLIC TRANSPORT demands, one of Sweden’s largest and most complex rail projects, the West Link, will provide the city of Gothenburg with a safer, more flexible and more reliable rail system.

At the same time, this project offers an excellent example of how smoothly collaboration within Ramboll can proceed, drawing together 54 different offices and 341 employees from Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark and the UK – primarily from Transport and Buildings but also from Environment & Health.

What is more, Ramboll has also had to coordinate with the other key stakeholder – and competitor – Sweco.

“It was very important that we kept a positive, relaxed, solution-oriented climate even in tough moments,” says Project Director Cecilia Orosz.

She stresses that holding a project of this magnitude together depends on clear communication and strong project management

with sharply defined roles and responsibilities, both internally and in relation to the client, the Swedish Transport Administration.

“The very tight schedule made it extra important that the teamwork functioned optimally and that we respected each other. It is also important to celebrate milestones and stop and think before embarking on the next stage. Our guiding principle was to ‘meet our challenges in a positive spirit’,” Cecilia Orosz says, adding:

“It’s also important to take quick action on conflicts and not to let them grow. I think that in 80% of projects, it's not the ‘task’ itself that is crucial, it’s the people relations within the team that usually take the most time to solve or build bridges between.”

The West Link core group did some meticulous planning before asking other employees to invest time in the assignment. At every change to the project, major or minor, they looked out for opportunities to streamline the working process.

Initially, the core group held regular meetings in person so they could get acquainted and understand each other’s skills. Later, they turned to Lync conferences to save time and money, but at meetings with the customer, at least one person from Ramboll or Sweco was always physically present.

“We were also extremely strict with file management and documentation, for which reason we made an internal website where all the material could be easily found and seen,” Cecilia Orosz says.

The West Link comprises an eight-kilometre double-track railway, six kilometres of which run through a tunnel beneath the centre of Gothenburg. Ramboll and the architects succeeded in striking the difficult balance between environment and health on the one hand, and the various engineering disciplines on the other.

By Michael Rothenborg

I N R E C E N T Y E A R S , Ramboll UK has established a strong tradition for international projects. A Buildings team in Chester, England, stands as testimony to this track record. Currently working with colleagues from the Nordics to Lebanon and Gibraltar, the 15 members of the Structures team rank among the highest in the 2015 ESES, scoring 4.8 out of 5 on the ability to work across teams and functions.

In this Q&A, Senior Technician Hannah Price, Project Associate John Whitfield and Associate Cormac Harte from the Chester team reflect on the art of teamwork. How does your team work with others?

Hannah: Our team has worked on several renewable energy plants with Ramboll Denmark. We’ve collaborated on a regular basis via emails, telephone conversations,

video conferencing and Lync. Lync’s ability to share screens has aided us in describing any issues with design or the drawings quickly and clearly. I liaise with the project manager on a regular basis to resolve any clashes or problems that we have and keep him up to date on the progress.

Cormac: We have recently completed the design of a multi-storey coach, mini-bus and car-park facility in Gibraltar. The structural design was completed in the UK by colleagues from three offices, while our Gibraltar office handled client delivery and the construction phase.

What are some of the challenges of cross-collaboration, and how do you approach them?

Cormac: On the Gibraltar project, there was huge pressure on us to deliver design information as early as possible. Good communication was critical during this phase. At an early stage, we met with the proposed contractor to understand their construction programme.

On the road to becoming a global organisation, Ramboll’s international project teams face an exciting, yet challenging task: orchestrating increasingly more complex projects by working smoothly across borders, cultures and disciplines. Get inspiration from some of the top performers on collaboration.

THE ART OF WORKING ACROSS TEAMS

Employees from the Ramboll UK Chester office on assignment in Lebanon.


By Jesper Toft Madsen

To stay one step ahead of them, we therefore tailored our delivery around their requirements, building in the exact dates they specified. This process demanded trust on both sides.

John: Understanding the needs of a different discipline is not always easy – for example, understanding the route and space required for building services and clear openings required in floors or walls. When working with Denmark, we discovered different cultural procedures, such as understanding of regulations, building requirements and design details. We held regular face-to-face meetings, which helped iron out any misunderstandings early on.

Hannah: There can sometimes be a language barrier or confusion with how we’ve explained things, so we produce sketches to clarify what we’re trying to portray and often share via Lync. By sharing, we make sure that both designs and drawings are coordinated and that there are no clashes before all the drawings are issued. Another challenge is making sure we have all the information needed to carry out the work before we start it. We do this by collating all the information, and if something is missing or we need clarification, we ask the client as soon as possible.

Why do you think your team performs so well on collaboration?

John: You have to be honest with other teams and regularly

discuss progress and issues so there are no surprises late on. It certainly helps, and reduces tension. Ironing out problems early on also reduces the number of later queries from site, thus helping the whole project run smoothly.

Hannah: Our team shares a commitment to achieving goals, and we always try our best to meet the agreed deadlines. We experience a lot of changes on the renewable energy projects, so we've learned to adapt quickly to these and fit them in around our remaining workload.

Cormac: Although we are all one Ramboll, individuals do things in different ways. Therefore, I believe some amount of flexibility is necessary. Building methods and even materials will be different to what we are used to in the UK. Also, empathy is important: While we were delivering the design in the UK, our team in Gibraltar was facing both the client and contractor on a weekly basis, which was inevitably difficult at times. We made it a priority to support them as best we could and have daily contact during critical phases.

What do you learn and gain by working in international project teams?

Cormac: You learn a huge amount from the way other teams operate, which

inevitably improves how your own team operates. I think working on international projects can also be exciting; you work with different materials and standards, and with people from other backgrounds than your own, which makes coming to work both stimulating and challenging.

John: We certainly learn how teams in different countries work and it’s always satisfying to assist them with procedures on projects in the UK. Working closely with other disciplines within Ramboll also helps us understand the requirements of the same disciplines provided by other companies and helps us ask the right questions when working on other projects.

KEY TAKEAWAYS Understanding how other teams work can improve your own teams performance.

Encountering different materials, standards, people and cultures makes work both exciting and challenging.

Multidisciplinary collaboration widens the pool of projects a team can take on.

John Whitfield, Cormac Harte and Hannah Price

9INSIGHT #06


S I N C E 2 0 1 2 , the team working with regional strategy development and economic policies and planning has had to struggle. Internal restructuring and fast-changing responsibilities led to unsuccessful projects and depleted self-confidence and team spirit. Today is a different story.

Judged by the 2015 ESES results, the eight colleagues have dramatically improved their teamwork – scoring 4.3 and 4.1, respectively, on the ability to collaborate with and learn from other teams, compared to 3.1 and 2.9 in 2014.

Business Manager Astrid Könönen believes that a stronger focus on motivation, roles and potential is partly responsible for the encouraging development.

“We had to start by lifting our own confidence and team spirit, so we made a comprehensive evaluation of our 2014 scores and outlined an action plan. Via long PDP talks with all team members, we’ve helped emphasise positive trends and shared responsibilities, and raised awareness of our potential.

At our regular strategy meetings we clarify each other’s roles and development goals,” she says.

Stronger tiesTo strengthen ties to colleagues outside the Growth, Economics & Planning team, the department has engaged in joint business planning and cross-staffing on multidisciplinary projects within Policy & Planning in Germany, and combined expertise internationally. Attention to transparency and project management is high.

Consultant Carla Binnewies explains how these overarching efforts have facilitated more collaboration:

“It can be very helpful to include experts from other units instead of trying to work out everything within the team. The restructuring has made cross-staffing a lot easier, and business managers cooperate, which has helped us work across borders. For instance, we performed the tasks in an analysis on impact indicators for EU funding in the Baltic Sea region according to our strengths, with our Swedish colleagues driving the project review and contribution analysis while we elaborated on indicator systems and soft impacts like capacity building. As a result, the client was extremely satisfied.”

“Our experiences have broadened the range of projects that we see as relevant to us. Getting in touch with colleagues from other functions also meant getting to know them a lot better, and we now know who to contact for future endeavours,”

The team has contributed to the positive development of Policy & Planning; improving billing ratio and order book.

ESES COLLABORATION SCORES 2015

QUESTION: “At [name of supervisory organisation] we collaborate well with other teams or functions.”

Highest score: 5.00Lowest score: 2.50Average score: 4.00

Based on five-point scale from ‘Strongly agree’ (5) to ‘Strongly disagree’ (1).

FROM DISSATISFACTION TO HIGH PERFORMANCE


The German-based Growth, Economics & Planning team at Ramboll Management Consulting has experienced one of the most impressive turnarounds in this year’s ESES scores.

WHAT IS ESES?The Employee Satisfaction & Engagement Survey (ESES) is Ramboll’s annual group-wide questionnaire. All employees are invited to participate. In 2015, Ramboll recorded a record-high response rate of 93%.

CARLA BINNEWIES

Consultant at Management Consultingin Germany



IBEN WARRING MADSENChief Consultant Ramboll Management Consulting

The best collaboration happens when ...“everyone brings their unique knowledge and enthusiasm to the table.”

My best experience with collaboration was ...“when we combined our different strengths towards the common goal.”

When we collaborate really well, it is because ...“we’re all interested in achieving the best result as a group and not as individuals.”

JOHAN ROSQVISTProject DirectorRamboll Finland

The best collaboration happens when ...“we admit that, although building design is traditionally a local business, we might learn something new and gain an advantage by working together internationally.”

My best experience with collaboration was ...“the good help we received from other PBUs when designing the Helsinki Central Library.”

When we collaborate really well, it is because ...“we take time to focus on communication and share all information so we’re certain to understand each other and the goal of the work to be done.”

JAYITA SENTeam Leader & Project ManagerRamboll Oil & Gas

The best collaboration happens when ...“Ramboll is clear about client needs while also honouring Ramboll’s values.”

My best experience with collaboration was ... “when Ramboll successfully convinced a client that a certain technology was not cost-effective, even though the company had persistently recommended that technology in a concept study.” When we collaborate really well, it is because ...“the client has confidence in Ramboll.”

VOXPOP

WHAT IS COLLABORATION TO US?WE ASKED THREE COLLEAGUES TO GIVE US THEIR INSIGHTS.



TACKLING ASIAN WEATHER TOGETHERA promising project with Asian Development Bank gives Ramboll the chance to realise synergies between Water, Energy, Transport, Management Consulting and Environment & Health – while improving climate adaptation and liveability on a global scale.

S T E L L A W H I T TA K E R , an experienced consultant specialising in sustainability and climate change, had only been at Ramboll Environment & Health for a few months when she received an interesting project lead: A good contact at CLIMsystems, a New Zealand company providing

climate change risk and adaptation assessment tools and services, knew that Asian Development Bank (ADB) was looking for assistance.

The Asia-Pacific region is rapidly developing, but countries there are spending vast amounts to deal with catastrophes caused by climate change. To address the problem, the

development bank wants to invest in initiatives that reduce carbon emissions and enhance climate adaptation in the largest cities.

Stella Whittaker found the tender intriguing. Although ENVIRON’s merger with Ramboll had changed the landscape in which she and her colleagues

By Martin Zoffmann


worked, she never doubted this was a lead to follow energetically.

“Even though I didn't have the full overview of Ramboll's fields of expertise and range of services, my gut feeling and experience from talking to people around the organisation told me that we could be the perfect match for Asian Development Bank on this assignment,” she explains.

Together with CLIMsystems and Christian Nyerup Nielsen, Global Service Line Leader for Climate Adaptation and Flood-risk Management, Stella Whittaker established a team of experts from Water, Energy, Transport, Management Consulting and Environment & Health. The team made it through the pre-qualification round and went on to win the project ahead of 21 highly experienced competitors.

“We were thrilled to win the project because it gives us an opportunity to realise our company’s full potential and unlock the synergies between Ramboll and colleagues coming from ENVIRON. Moreover, it boosts our ability to convey our Nordic experience in climate adaptation and resilience to the global market,” says Christian Nyerup Nielsen.

A common languageIn the tendering process, the team focused strongly on formulating an internal common language and gaining a mutual understanding of relevant concepts. This engendered consistency from a client perspective and ensured lean internal processes.

“A team with people from five business units in different parts of the world needs to work in a lean, efficient and consistent way. With this in mind, we produced the tender material in a slightly different manner,” says Anne Zaff, Project & Business Development Coordinator at Ramboll Water and a driver of the ADB tender process.

“For instance, we established a core team that produced all the tender material solely on the basis of inputs from the experts in their respective fields – not final reports from them, as is often the case. This approach saved time for the contributors and enabled the core team to write the tender homogeneously,” she adds.

Pretty much in syncTo kick off the project, the entire team gathered for a workshop in Copenhagen, where they could get up to speed on the client dialogue and take some time to discuss and think through the project.

“We did what we could at an early stage in Copenhagen to frontload the project and minimise the risk of internal misunderstandings. Fortunately, we were pretty much in sync, which was a bit surprising considering our different backgrounds and professional perspectives,” says Project Director Søren Hansen, an

expert in urban development and member of the ADB project team.

Stella Whittaker is confident that the project will be a success – but she is also aware of the numerous challenges that lie ahead.“We’ll try to use a ‘double-loop learning’ approach where we satisfy the client while also gaining experience on how to create the best collaboration between colleagues from Ramboll and legacy ENVIRON in the future.”

THE PROJECT IN BRIEF

Ramboll will conduct a study with both technical and socioeconomic dimensions on solutions to enhance resilience and reduce carbon emissions in large Asian cities with populations over 750,000: initially Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia), Suva (Fiji), Mandalay (Myanmar), Colombo (Sri Lanka) and Tbilisi (Georgia).Preliminary, six Ramboll experts will work on the project for approximately nine months; the budget is USD 500,000.

KEY TAKEAWAYS Ramboll's abilities to combine local insights with global knowledge and to address complex issues with a holistic approach have proved crucial to winning the project. The project team puts a strong focus on sharing knowledge on and creating a mutual understanding of core concepts in order to pave the way for internal lean processes.

Residents of Cainta, Rizal, walk through flood waters caused by typhoon Mario (international name Fung Wong) in the Philippines on September 19, 2014.

CHRISTIAN NYERUP NIELSEN

Global Service Line Leader, Climate Adaptation and Flood-risk Management at Ramboll Water



T H E R A M B O L L T E A M behind the coming OsloSolar building in the Norwegian capital had to integrate a variety of concerns – otherwise the project would have been insurmountable.

“It was a matter of creating an innovative and integrated environmental and energy design. We questioned the status quo, together as a team and with a humble and innovative architect,” says Project Manager Magnus Killingland from Ramboll Norway.

The team had to meet the highest environmental requirements and decrease the ecological footprint of the building – which also has to produce more energy than it consumes. On top of that, there was what Magnus Killingland calls the “battle of the sunrays” – a balancing act that required weighing the demand for daylight, versus the solar power production, versus cooling and heating demands, versus the views. Window size, wall thickness and heat transfer coefficients were all parameters affected by these

factors and requiring optimisation, an interesting task for the engineering team, which had to work within the available facade, which was optimally designed to harvest sunrays.

“It really forced us to rethink,” says Magnus Killingland.

Respect for the other disciplinesThe Ramboll team was made up of eight dedicated specialists, but has involved as many as 14 specialists from Oslo and Trondheim, Norway, and Copenhagen, Denmark. Magnus Killingland stresses that the dynamic, interdisciplinary collaboration was a key to success.

“We managed to establish an atmosphere where all proposals were valid, and each of us showed our respect for all the other disciplines. When it was necessary we took time to recapitulate or clarify quickly on principles. Last but not least, we agreed that it didn’t matter where we came from, but that we had a common goal – a sustainable and renewable urban power plant that ensures

an excellent indoor climate, thus safeguarding productive and happy end-users,” explains Magnus Killingland.

The integrated solutions include the harvest of rainwater and snow used to produce indoor cooling, to humidify and water plants, to create vertical gardens and to flush toilets. Another solution involves a chimney that utilises the local, predominantly north-to-south wind to generate efficient ventilation.

“Each solution had expert input from all the specialists,” Magnus Killingland underlines.

With its 8,300 square metres of solar panels, OsloSolar will probably be the most energy-producing building in Europe when finished in 2020.

OsloSolar won FutureBuilt Urban+, an international architecture, engineering and design contest sponsored by Entra. OsloSolar is a cooperation between Code architects and Ramboll, with Ramboll providing all engineering services.

Fourteen specialists from Norway and Denmark had to rethink and create innovative and integrated solutions for a new Oslo landmark.

A BATTLE OF THE SUNRAYS – WITH A JOINT FORCES VICTORY


FROM ACQUISITION TO COLLABORATIONHow do we harvest the synergies envisioned when two companies join forces? When Excel Engineering joined Ramboll Oil & Gas in 2013, they gained all the systems they needed and thousands of colleagues worldwide. But most importantly, they had a friendly face to explain it all.

By Karina Smedemark

I T WA S V I TA L to reap the benefits of Ramboll’s first bold move across the Atlantic from the outset, so Asmus D. Nielsen, the newly appointed liaison manager from Denmark, moved to the US office for 18 months.

For 54-year-old Asmus Nielsen and his wife, Karen, it was a first being stationed abroad. “Over the years, I’ve had a number of options for stationing, but somehow the timing was never right; either the kids were too small, too big, just starting school, going into their teens, etc.,” Asmus Nielsen laughs. “When this opportunity came along, we had run out of excuses.”

Although part of the management team, Asmus Nielsen worked very deliberately in his technical capacity as well. He quickly became involved in project details, coming to play a pivotal role in facilitating the two companies’ integration.

American colleague Cris Pili explains: “Not only was it a big help to have Asmus introduce us to Ramboll’s systems and ways of working, but it was also a

prerequisite for knowledge exchange to have someone from Ramboll sitting physically at the office. Otherwise the time difference would only give us a few hours every morning to be in touch with overseas colleagues.” “I think connecting the right people with each other was another key outcome of my stay in the USA,” Asmus Nielsen says.

Since returning home to Denmark, he has helped Cris Pili and Eric Dickson, another American colleague, come to Denmark on a subsequent assignment. “One of our project managers needed some short-term assistance on a high-volume project, and as we talked, I instantly thought of Cris for the job,” Asmus Nielsen explains.

An experienced ex-pat, Cris Pili was easily persuaded to spend six months in Denmark. “Getting to know my Danish colleagues first-hand has also shed light on little things that I never thought of as cultural differences. I think I will be going back to the USA with a better sense of who my colleagues across the Atlantic are,” he concludes.

Cris Pili, Eric Dickson and Asmus Nielsen gathered at Esbjerg Harbour.

15INSIGHT #06

IN THE FALL OF 2015 MARK TRAVERS got a call from a long-term client. He wanted to know if they needed to establish an eyewash station at a truck maintenance terminal at an Asian plant. Were there any legal requirements in that particular country?

Yes, there were, Mark Travers responded after corresponding with colleagues in Asia. He did not, however, bill the client for the few minutes of his time. Getting to that pivotal point of being the client’s trusted adviser is the foundation upon which ENVIRON – now a part of Ramboll's Environment & Health and Water divisions – built its consultancy business.

“At the end of the day, we do want to charge our clients for our time, but when giving simple advice that only takes a couple of minutes, you’ll spend more time writing the invoice,” says Mark Travers.

CLIENT RELATIONS ARE IN OUR DNA

By Morten Lund

ENVIRON built its global success

on becoming a trusted adviser and consultant of

choice to clients. That approach created

fruitful, long-term client relationships and

also helped the company stay clear of many tenders.

Mark Travers

Everyone does client workMark Travers is Executive Vice President of Global Practice Development at Environment & Health – which basically means combining a business developer role with a client delivery responsibility role. Like everyone else at legacy ENVIRON, Mark Travers also does client work.

Close client relationships has always been part of ENVIRON’s DNA, an important aspect of the competitive strategy – and is also a part of the new vision for Environment & Health. The strategy has helped to create fruitful, long-term collaborations with clients like Rio Tinto and Sun Chemical and has made it possible in many cases to avoid tenders, because the client has come directly to ENVIRON when looking to resolve a given issue.

“The way that we have always operated and still operate is to develop close client relationships that we expand on globally. The fact that everyone has clients helps to build these relationships,” says Mark Travers, who will celebrate his 15th anniversary with the firm in June 2016.

No more Mad Men martinis Times have surely changed since he made his way into the engineering and environmental consulting business. When it comes to establishing and nurturing client relationships, Mad Men martinis, excursions to the nearest golf course or corporate holiday gifts are less and less part of the game.

Those days are winding down, as Mark Travers puts it. Rather, it’s all about delivering solid, technical knowledge. Basically being the one who’s always carrying a little wagon with all the answers, as a colleague of Mark Travers once said.

Like the rest of Ramboll, legacy ENVIRON essentially approaches all project work from a local-global strategy. Deliberately small, local offices scattered across most time zones have been the backbone of the company's network of services, while regional client managers ensure a coherent service regardless of the location.

A trusted source of informationTake Rio Tinto, for instance. This market-leading mining group has been a client for some 15 years and is a prime example of a truly global client. Environment & Health now does significant work for Rio Tinto in the USA, Australia and Europe and has local entry points in the form of client relationship managers in each of those regions.

Or take Sun Chemical – a leading producer of printing inks and pigments – who has been a top 10 client for many years. As with Rio Tinto, Environment & Health has key client relationship managers for Sun Chemical in the USA and Europe.

“When you have particular people managing the relationship, they know what’s important to that client in terms of upcoming enforcement actions, market developments, regulatory requirements and so forth. So we become a source of information,”

says Mark Travers, thus returning to the concept of the trusted adviser.

This concept will become much more formalised as Environment & Health rolls out a more detailed client programme within the Global Practice, which will merge the best of the existing processes within Ramboll and legacy ENVIRON into one integrated client approach across geographies and services.

KEY TAKEAWAYS Keep your ears open: Know your business and your clients. Constantly learn. A solid, long-term client relationship is built on technical knowledge and trust – not holiday gifts. Reach out for help: The client might ask for services that you yourself are not that familiar with. In that case seek assistance! In an organisation of Ramboll’s size, someone else can surely deliver the goods or offer a fresh set of eyes. Trust your colleagues as you would want them to trust you.

17INSIGHT #06

T H E R A M B O L L Engineering Centre – formerly known as the Global Engineering Centre (GEC) – in Gurgaon, India, has had a hectic start in life. The office has swelled from 10 people to around 250 in little more than 18 months.

Now, with an employee base in place, the IT infrastructure up and running and several projects under its belt, the REC is rolling out a new

organisational setup that will move it out of infancy and into its youth.

For a true understanding of why a new organisational structure is needed, let’s take a moment to consider the challenges that the Managing Director of Ramboll India and REC, Pawan Maini, and the rest of the managing team have encountered in the past 20 months.

“When a building engineer in Denmark or the UK – someone who has been at Ramboll for, say, five years – is asked to send 20-30% of his or her work to Gurgaon, that person will naturally be a bit sceptical. You don’t know the person doing the engineering, and you don’t know if it will affect your own work. So gaining the trust of those using the REC is vital,” says

A CHANGE THAT SMOOTHENS PROJECT WORKA new organisational setup for the Ramboll Engineering Centre (REC) will introduce more one-to-one communication and other measures, so the information should flow more quickly. Managing Director Pawan Maini shares his view.


By Morten Lund

Pawan Maini in dialogue with technical manager Nadeem Ahmed in front of Ramboll’s founders.

Pawan Maini, adding that another big challenge has been handling the significant number of stakeholders involved in a global engineering project.

Two major changesProcesses to facilitate project work across the REC and the six principal business units (PBUs) using the centre have already been implemented, Pawan Maini notes. For instance, at the outset of every project a simple, yet comprehensive template with all necessary project data is filled out, exchanged and confirmed.However, hopes are that the new, streamlined organisational structure can transform the REC from a start-up of sorts into a more mature organisation.

“We have now reached a stage where the REC is more mature and faces different challenges. We believe that these organisational structures will better address these challenges,” says Pawan Maini, who explains that there will be two principle organisational changes:

First, all communication between the PBUs and the REC will be simplified by introducing more one-to-one communication. Each PBU will have its own dedicated REC teams with nominated team leaders who facilitate all communication with the PBU concerned. Similarly,

each PBU will appoint REC managers and coordinators across disciplines.

“We have now reduced the numbers of conduits through which the information flows, so the information should flow more quickly. At the same time I hope that users will feel a greater sense of ownership of the REC by working more closely with individual REC members,” he says.

Halfway thereSecond, the new structure will optimise the synergies between the REC and Ramboll India. If either of the organisations has heavy workloads, resources can be transferred back and forth and thus more fully exploited, explains Pawan Maini, who will continue to serve in his primary role as Managing Director of Ramboll India.

All in all, the new REC setup should empower Ramboll to deliver its services more swiftly across a broader spectrum:

“From a client perspective it will make us more efficient, and that definitely helps us externally. So, from that perspective this new organisational structure should benefit the client too.”

Looking back over the past 20 months, Pawan Maini reckons it will take another 18 before the REC completes the teen stage of

its journey to become a mature organisation.

“I would think we are halfway – we will be a fully grown organisation in a year and a half. The original plan was to number 500 people by the end of 2016, but that number is more likely to be 350, considering the challenges of building up a new organisation. But we’re on track.”

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KEY TAKEAWAYSWhen working on projects across five time zones and cultural differences, trust between the people involved is everything. Remember to take into account the different holiday calendars of, for instance, Denmark and India. Reduce the number of conduits through which the information flows. One-to-one communication between the REC and the PBU’s will reduce confusion and increase trust.

7,000 KM OF FIBRE NET

The aorta of Ramboll's global engineering setup is an unbroken line of fibre net cable spanning 7,000 km across two continents. This WAN line between Copenhagen and Gurgaon, where the REC office is located, links the REC with the rest of the Ramboll organisation and ensures full CAD operationality.

INSIGHT #06

VA S T A M O U N T S of drawings and 3D models have recently been floating through cyberspace on their digital journey between Copenhagen and Gurgaon.

Ramboll Denmark’s Bridges department is one of the many Ramboll business units participating in an environmental impact assessment (EIA) of a planned high-speed rail link across Vejle Fjord in Denmark. The Bridges department is contributing the conceptual design for 22 landside bridges for the five alignments being investigated.

Given the time constraints, the department would be unable to deliver a conceptual design of this scope without utilising the REC. As evinced in previous projects, Kasper Dichmann Christiansen and his colleagues rely on the skills of the REC to produce general arrangement drawings, 3D models and quantity calculations.

The REC can deliver a lot of work at a pace the Bridges department cannot match. Utilising the REC allows us to conduct larger projects, which, of course, leads to new, exciting opportunities,” says Kasper Dichmann Christiansen.

IT ALL COMES DOWN TO COMMUNICATIONThe 30-year-old structural engineer worked with offshoring before joining Ramboll in 2014, so he was unperturbed to hear of the plans for a global engineering setup. Rather, he thought it sounded interesting – although challenging, as he puts it.

Now, several gigabytes of file-sharing later, Kasper Dichmann Christiansen has developed a better understanding of what it takes to successfully manage projects across cultural differences and five time zones. Ultimately, it all comes down to communication, he says.

For example, remembering that Denmark and India celebrate their holidays at different times of year is key, Kasper Dichmann Christiansen emphasises. Sending a Danish engineer to Gurgaon in mid-November is pointless, as most Indians will be off celebrating their biggest festival of the year, the Diwali.

By Morten Lund

WORKING WITH THE REC LEADS TO NEW OPPORTUNITIESAfter exchanging several gigabytes of files with the REC (Ramboll Engineering Centre), structural engineer Kasper Dichmann Christiansen knows what it takes to run projects across five time zones.


R E B E C C A G R A D Y from Ramboll UK’s London office is one of Ramboll’s roughly 75 super-users of global engineering.

As an experienced practitioner (EP), she is one of the trained experts with whom project managers can sit down and have a coffee when embarking on a project requiring REC involvement and when, for instance, they are unsure about how to package the work.

In my view the EP role is about facilitating knowledge sharing between people and aligning expectations in order to successfully work on projects with the REC. Hopefully it is helpful to be able to consult someone as well as using the REC website,” says Project Manager Rebecca Grady, who underwent EP training in July 2015.

WORLD CHAMPIONSThe EP concept springs from the recognition that fully aligned project practices are key ingredients in unlocking the REC’s full potential and thus in giving Ramboll a strong, global work-sharing environment. Everyone needs to take a similar approach to projects.

Consulting engineers in general and Ramboll in particular are world champions at developing good processes, but the implementation is always tricky. That’s where the EPs come into the picture as ambassadors of best practice,” says Morten Hansen, Senior Project Manager at Ramboll Denmark and a creator of the EP concept.

In practice, each EP goes through a two-day course in which they learn the four areas of the “Project Manager’s Guide to Global Engineering” – Ramboll’s framework for global engineering practices. Afterwards, they can serve as practical advisors to local project managers, other project members and department heads.

ONE STEP A TIME We recommend that each EP

spend from three to five hours a week on the role. Our dialogue with EPs and the feedback we get from them show that this is where things start to happen. The more time they spend on the EP role, the bigger the impact,” says Morten Hansen.

According to Rebecca Grady, the first UK experiences with the REC have been an exercise in aligning

expectations and taking onestep at a time. However, results improved as projects progressed, especially in the case of the Wood Wharf project – a major mixed-use redevelopment project in London.

One of the main things I learned at the EP training is that there would be pain before gain and that we would need to invest a lot of resources in setting up the REC. That the first projects would be difficult, but that we will really begin to see the benefits in a year’s time or so. On the Wood Wharf project the main benefit was getting a resource boost from the REC.”

Ramboll’s experienced practitioners are project managers’ best friends and key drivers for smooth collaboration in Ramboll’s global engineering setup. They will continue to serve as global engineering ambassadors in the new REC setup.

A MAIN THING I LEARNED IS THAT THERE WOULD BE PAIN BEFORE GAIN

By Morten Lund





Tom Patterson, a water expert and newly appointed lead for Water in Australia, is already collaborating substantively with colleagues across geographical as well as organisational boundaries.

ELEVATING MARKET SYNERGIESWe have started harvesting the market synergies sparked by the merger between Ramboll and ENVIRON. Get insights about the results of the synergy program so far, the essential takeaways from joint projects, and why relations building and customer focus remain the key to unlocking Ramboll’s full potential.

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A SHORT WAY FROM SYDNEY , Australia, construction on one of the world’s largest waste-to-energy plants is about to commence. Ramboll Energy is providing advice on the process technology and has called in colleagues from Environment & Health in Australia (legacy ENVIRON) to perform an independent peer review of the environmental impact assessment (EIA), which is required for approval by the local authority.

The joint project demonstrates market synergy at work. Ramboll has been involved in projects at more than 130 waste-to-energy plants worldwide, but has been unable to assist customers with authority approvals outside the Nordics – until ENVIRON came in with its local presence and expertise.

Ramboll has set up its first comprehensive Synergy Program to better reap the market synergies of the acquisition. Many of its dedicated activities are organised into task forces that pursue specific synergy themes, customer segments, service lines or geographies.

Since late 2014, more than 330 project leads have emerged. Of 99 proposals, 75 have resulted in actual projects, the total value of which reaches USD 6.65 million. Mette Søs Lassesen, Group Director for Market Development and Program Manager of the Synergy Program, reflects on the results:

“There’s plenty of activity, and we’ve experienced a great willingness to collaborate. People are very resourceful and have

taken a positive approach when establishing new relationships and contacts across the organisation,” she says.

“Ramboll and legacy ENVIRON have few overlapping, but many related services. This level of complementarity makes it easy to spot the potential synergies, but it’s also a learning phase. Our services and customer base have different starting points in the market, and it can be challenging to make those points meet.”

Connecting at all levelsOne ambition behind the program is to facilitate more general collaboration and joint projects outside the task forces. Now in its implementation phase, the program is being integrated into daily operations. All synergy themes will thus be run from the business units, becoming an integrated aspect of business planning, budgets and reporting.

“One of the next steps is to connect at more levels of the organisation. It’s not just about board meetings and management team talks. People need to meet through projects, and we will focus on creating ownership outside the task forces,” says Mette Søs Lassesen. “So far, we have seen how people recognise and understand each other’s professional backgrounds. This high level of trust and confidentiality among colleagues is decisive in carrying out synergy projects that would not have been possible without a combined effort.”

Constant customer focusBuilding relations is also a must, according to Mark Travers, Executive Vice President for Global Practice Development at Environment & Health and part of the Synergy Management Team. He emphasises that new connections and a combined presence have proven a game changer in several high-profile projects, from waste-to-energy in Australia to the decommissioning of oil fields in the North Sea.

“Although the integration process has reached a higher level of maturity, the most important thing is still getting to know each other. The best way to do this is to keep sharing stories about the synergies and leads we discover. By doing this, we can avoid any missed opportunities,” he says.

In one upcoming Synergy Program activity, Mark Travers will orchestrate a Synergy Customer Program to ensure a constant focus on clients. “When we teamed up, few of our clients were the same, so we have an amazing wealth of opportunities available to us. The program is still developing, but it’s focused on sharing and developing clients.”

334 leads

Value USD 6.65 m

99 proposals

75 wins $

WHAT IS MARKET SYNERGY? An opportunity for the combined entity (Ramboll and legacy ENVIRON) to generate more revenue than achievable on a standalone basis.

FUNNEL DATA FROM THE SYNERGY PROGRAM


The ability to put together multidisciplinary teams using our own people is great. Many environmental projects have a civil or structural engineering component, and vice versa. A good example is our recent work with Chevron Oronite, a long-term ENVIRON client, at its facility on Jurong Island, Singapore’s petrochemical hub. Oronite needed help with its aging pits to prevent environmental pollution to soil and groundwater, and we were able to bring in our engineering colleagues from Ramboll in Singapore to assess the pit integrity from a structural point of view.

Singapore is a very competitive market with large, established players as well as smaller, local, niche competition. So far we’ve collaborated on many joint bids and one major project for a potential

transport link. Our competitive edge is the ability to bring together multidisciplinary teams combining proven international experience with local presence. Clients look to Ramboll for its international expertise and track record in large projects, but local presence and working knowledge are crucial in securing and strengthening relationships. International capability can be a double-edged sword if it means local clients perceive Ramboll as not rooted in Singapore.

We will strengthen collaboration between the Singapore, Malaysia, and Myanmar teams and pursue new opportunities in Indonesia and Thailand. We’ll provide a wider package of services for sustainable cities, from core environmental services such as compliance, impact assessment, air quality

and climate change adaptation, to site solutions that complement Ramboll’s planning, transport and buildings design capabilities. Future projects in Asia will be driven by the infrastructure needs of major cities in Indonesia, the Philippines, China, and India.

Cara Quinn is based at the Singapore office where, as a manager at Environment & Health, she works with environmental impact assessments, environmental health and safety compliance and sustainability.


In the coming decades, Asian cities are expected to invest heavily in infrastructure upgrades as part of their green transition. Cara Quinn, Manager at Environment & Health in Singapore, reflects on current demand, the first joint experiences and the next steps towards realising Ramboll’s market potential in the region.

REALISING THE ASIAN POTENTIAL

KEY TAKEAWAYSA high level of trust and confidentiality is needed to carry out synergy projects.

Create ownership for synergies at every level of the organisation.

SHARE YOUR SYNERGY STORY If you have discovered a market opportunity, make sure to get in touch with Nanna Malene Schultz, [email protected], the single point of entry for synergy stories and leads.

25INSIGHT #06

How have you approached your new role?“For me it is about using my normal management style which is to listen before acting. I like to listen and work in a coaching way and support people in finding answers themselves. I’m not going to be in the UK forever so this is not about having a business unit that I can run, it is about having one that can run itself.”

What are some of the key strengths in the UK? “The level of technical excellence is exceptionally strong in the UK. I recently attended the UK’s Technical Excellence Forum which is an all-day conference for employees where we hear a variety of presentations on different examples of technical excellence. It was such an enjoyable day and demonstrates the level of technical competence in our UK business. The presenters at this forum were not all senior individuals, some were fairly new to their careers, and this represents another strength in the UK. Senior people here are very good at working with more junior individuals and placing importance on mentoring their apprentices. More specifically the UK is very strong in certain parts of the market. For example, in heritage conservation, cross-laminated timber, signature bridges and some of the more unusual and unique projects. These are areas where we have a market leading position.”

What challenges do you see in the UK?“The level of technical competence in the UK is strong, and so the challenges are focused on making the business excellence as impressive as the technical excellence and improving our position in the market. The UK market is extremely competitive and we are not in the big league, while in Denmark we have more than 3,000 people and are the biggest company. In the UK we have 1,300 people but the biggest has nearly 15,000, so we don’t have the size effect. Further, Ramboll has only been in the UK since 2007. We are very strong in particular areas but generally we are not well enough known. We do some fantastic work

in the UK and have some very dedicated and talented people, and so together we will push Ramboll forward in the UK.”

What can you learn in the UK that you can bring back to Denmark?“I could have been conservative and said that this is how we do things in Denmark and this is the only way, but I have received a lot of input and ideas from people in the UK, and this has opened my eyes to there being more than one way to do things. So I may come back doing things differently. Sharing ideas and having new experiences is very rewarding, and I am certainly enjoying the personal experience of living in a city like London.”

25INSIGHT #06

“TOGETHER WE WILL PUSH RAMBOLL FORWARD IN THE UK” In September 2015, after 7 years as Managing Director in Denmark, Robert Arpe took up the position of acting Managing Director in the UK. In this Q&A, he reflects on his time so far in the UK.

By Nicki Marsh

Robert Arpe

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Since the Innovation Challenge finals in June 2015, the winning projects have been further developed.

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27INSIGHT #06

By Ina Johanne Mønsted

INNOVATION CHALLENGE SPARKS NEW PARTNERSHIPS Participants and organisers in Ramboll's Innovation Challenge all agree that the idea competition engages employees and creates productive alliances across country borders and sectors. Also long after the finals.

My city lacks affordable housing across the income spectrum.”

My city is unsafe for pedestrians and cyclists.”

My city is so compact that recreational areas are nonexistent.”

T H E S E A R E A M O N G the challenges Ramboll employees around the world are experiencing in their own neighbourhoods. In London, five groups from the Innovation Challenge were invited to pitch their ideas on how to meet these challenges and make their cities more liveable.

The finals were held in June 2015, and the Ramboll Liveable Matrix group participated. Ultimately, the trophy stayed out of their reach, but the jury praised the group, whose members came from four countries and three sectors, for their interesting project idea and for their cultural and professional diversity.

“The Innovation Challenge gives our employees an opportunity

to work across disciplines and be challenged from their own perspectives. This embodies the Ramboll values such as insight, empowerment and enjoyment, and is often very fruitful,” says Neel Strøbæk, Group Director of Planning & Urban Design and an organiser of the Innovation Challenge.

Productive discussions The Ramboll Liveable Matrix group has continued developing a methodology and GIS frameset to analyse the social and ecological values, processes and networks in specific places within the landscape. We can use this methodology as a tool for adding value to buildings and cities and thus expand our expertise in liveable city development.

Lars Johansson, Project and Process Manager at Ramboll Sweden, came up with the initial idea. He quickly assembled a small team from Sweden and Finland, but needed some specialists to help finalise the technical details. Posting his idea on the Innovation Challenge platform put him in touch

with two specialists from Singapore and Italy.

Lars Johansson says that, overall, working across sectors and borders has been one of the group’s strengths, although he admits challenges have arisen in the process:

“Our views on how to manage a project sometimes differ, because we all have different professional backgrounds and work within different markets. In Sweden, for example, you can sell a project solely on the basis of an idea’s potential. In Singapore, however, customers are much more focused on cost-benefit, so you need to think and progress in a different way.”

Ultimately, Lars Johansson believes that the cross-disciplinary perspective has bolstered the concept, better preparing it for a global market.

Collaboration built on mutual respect Discussions among the group are lively, but their decisions are generally unanimous. The group has no hierarchy and no leader.


Lars Johansson explains that they wanted to create a working environment built on equality and respect for each other’s differences and competencies.

“We organise our Lync meetings as roundtable discussions to ensure full participation, and we also post meeting memos on our internal platform, so no one is left out of the loop if he or she misses a meeting,” he explains.

Lars Johansson is convinced that an initiative like the Innovation Challenge will keep Ramboll at the leading edge of development.

“Working on this project has already helped some of our team members win tenders, and it also adds value to the everyday lives of our employees. We actually get to experience what it means to be part of a global organisation. It’s not just something you read about on the intranet, it’s real people providing you with new perspectives.”

Collaboration is good for business According to Neel Strøbæk, we need to practice understanding our services from different perspectives.

“Our societies are holistic. And so holism must also characterise our answers. We need to be able to see

the broader perspective while also maintaining our professional depth.”

The Innovation Challenge is an excellent vehicle through which Ramboll employees can practice working together in new constellations and inspire each other to share their ideas, she says.

Collaboration among finalist groups The narrative of collaboration goes beyond the competition. In November the Liveable Matrix group facilitated a two-day workshop with an extended group of experts, some of them members of other finalist groups. Another group also work with GIS, and at the workshop the two groups looked into how they can benefit from each other’s ideas.

The Liveable Matrix group has been in contact with potential customers invited to participate in the project as pilots. The group will now be a part of the strategic development of Ramboll’s business in integrated sustainability services. And the concept and toolbox will be applied to two business cases during 2016 (one in the Nordic market and one in the global market).


KEY TAKEAWAYS How to collaborate across country borders and sectors. Make sure that everyone in the group participates, e.g. by making meetings into roundtable discussions. Foster an environment of equality and respect for each other’s competencies and differences. Make it an asset to have various approaches to a project, when preparing products for the global market.

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Five projects made it to the finals, and most of the projects have since been further developed and refined. Get the latest updates here.

FROM INDIVIDUAL ACTIVITY DATA TO A CROWD-SOURCED MAP

I D E A : The winning idea, the crowd-sourced PM2.5 concentration map, will help reduce air pollution and give the citizens of Beijing timely access to local information on air pollution. An app will be developed to gather user data and analyse PM2.5 emissions from users’ daily activities. This information will be gathered in a database and used to predict future PM2.5 concentrations.

U P D AT E : “We have refined our project development plan and established funding options. We have also been tracking the launching of similar products on the market. There are a couple, but not in the Asian market yet,” says Min Hou, a group member.

ASSURE IT WILL TELL YOU WHERE2DIG

I D E A : The Assure IT solution is a system that seeks to heighten district heating energy security, mitigate problems with district heating grids and enable problems to be addressed faster, more cheaply and more reliably than before. This is done with a GIS data management system integrated with utilities’ alarm systems and a corresponding application for handling data in the field.

U P D AT E : “We have implemented a new GIS platform at Ramboll Energy, and the idea has been written into the energy department’s development program for GIS. We are slowly progressing and waiting for the right time to realise the idea,” says Henrik Pilegaard Mortensen, a group member.

FACILITATING CLIMATE FINANCE FLOW

I D E A : With the COP21 accord now reached, significant funds are becoming available to address the issue of climate change. International financial institutions manage distribution of the funds and will face a potential management bottleneck if their capacity is not increased. Ramboll is well placed to address this topic, and it has been proposed to consolidate Ramboll’s climate change offerings and approach the institutions directly to offer a service that can increase their capacity to address fund distribution.

U P D AT E : “The proposal has been presented to a group of directors. We were requested to develop a next-step agenda and budget, which we submitted in October. In December we’ll push the idea further at an initial video conference with a group of selected specialists, followed by a Hackathon workshop,” says Isidore McCormack, one of the group members.

CITY RESILIENCY AND CLIMATE ADAPTATION USING BAYESIAN NETWORKS

I D E A : The city risk monitor will model how disasters affect the functionality of a city’s vital services by using Bayesian networks. This will enable city decision makers to make faster, more informed and better coordinated decisions regarding emergency response and climate adaptation.

U P D AT E : “We are currently promoting our idea to an existing client, with the objective being to start a collaboration on the topic. We are also meeting up with the liveable matrix team to investigate if parts of our methodology could be applied in their project,” says Erik Sunde, a group member.

UPDATES ON FINALIST PROJECTS


THE FINNISH FORMULA FOR SUCCESSPassion, persistence and spirit have been Markku Moilanen’s secret of success at Ramboll Finland. They are also keywords on his Twitter profile, but privately the new group executive director for the Nordics would take the Finnish lakeside over social media any day.

By Morten Lund

31INSIGHT #06

M A R K K U M O I L A N E N is not a true fan of the parallel universe embodied in social media. He is active there because Ramboll’s stakeholders are. Were it up to the private Markku Moilanen, he would rather be enjoying the tranquillity of nature, sailing on a Finnish lake.

However, if you browse through his Twitter profile – @MarkkuMoilanen – the words “passion, persistence and great spirit” will show up in his bio. In many ways those three nouns are the guiding stars of Markku Moilanen’s leadership career so far. First as managing director of Ramboll Finland and now as the recently appointed Group executive director of the Nordic country

business units and a new member of the Group Executive Board.

“If your team has a great spirit and the necessary energy, you will get results. But you need to be persistent and hardworking as well. I believe that once you’ve made a decision, you should stick to it and be determined, even during tough times,” he says.

Tough times are exactly what the 54-year-old Markku Moilanen experienced during his past eight years as head of Ramboll Finland.

However, despite the financial crisis and a struggling Finnish economy, Markku Moilanen and his management team have succeeded in making Ramboll the biggest consulting engineering firm in

Finland, with more than 2,000 employees and a 2014 revenue hovering around EUR 130 million.

“Our business managers committed themselves to the vision we set in early 2008. We had to make tough decisions and downsize underperforming units, but we also hired a lot of people and made acquisitions that strengthened us,” he says, referring to the 20 acquisitions that Ramboll Finland has carried out since 2008.

Being stronger togetherWith his new job as head of the four Nordic countries’ business units, Markku Moilanen is essentially assuming leadership of a well-oiled machine. Still, there is always room for improvement.

Since his promotion in September, he has kept himself busy commuting back and forth between his hometown Helsinki, Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm to meet the various managers and share ideas and best practice.

According to Markku Moilanen, it all comes down to being stronger together and enhancing collaboration between the business units. Not just across the Nordic countries but across the Ramboll organisation as a whole.

“We can be much better at sharing opportunities across countries and business units. I want to take that collaboration to the next level, but the acceleration will be gradual. A lot of good work is already being done,” says Markku Moilanen, adding that the new structure of the Ramboll Engineering Centre (REC) in India should be a massive leap forward:

“We must take full advantage of our global engineering setup. Not only to improve our competitiveness but also to enable us to grow by entering new, unexplored submarkets”

HEAVEN IS A WINTER WONDERLAND IN LAPLAND

Skiing and lakeside relaxation are two respites in Markku Moilanen’s otherwise hectic life.

Markku Moilanen’s calendar has little space for leisure these days, but when time allows, chances are he is somewhere in the wild – preferably with skis strapped to his feet.

“Skiing is probably what I enjoy most. I go cross-country skiing and downhill skiing whenever I can,” says 54-year-old Markku Moilanen, who has spent many a winter with his wife and four sons in Lapland, Finland’s northernmost region.

Similarly, summers generally take place at the family’s cottage on the

shore of one of Finland’s abundant lakes.

The importance of values He characterises his countrymen as introverted, but honest, trustworthy people that stick to their promises. Markku Moilanen considers himself highly value-driven in his professional life as well:

“I have my values – I won’t work for just any company. I came to Ramboll because of its values and way of doing business, and because we strive to make the world just a little bit better. I think it’s important to work for a company with values similar to your own.”

AG

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R A M B O L L ’ S P R E S E N C E at the COP21 climate summit in Paris clearly enhanced our business on many fronts, in the estimation of Group Market Director Neel Strøbæk and Executive Director for Environment & Health Thomas Kveiborg.

“First of all, we got really strong exposure. We also had the chance to meet with a number of existing and potential new customers,” says Thomas Kveiborg.

Even before the Paris climate accord was struck, he could see that progress in the negotiations was inspiring our clients to be more ambitious – when it comes to reducing emissions, becoming more energy efficient and generally adapting business models to take full advantage of the potential transition to a low-carbon economy.

“It offers really great opportunities for us, because we can combine our strong position in environmental management with technical solutions,” says Thomas Kveiborg.

Neel Strøbæk adds: “The dual challenges that cities face – urbanisation and climate extremes – present major market opportunities for our urban, water and energy divisions.”

The Danish Minister for Energy and Climate, Lars Christian Lilleholt, agreed when he visited the Danish pavilion at the exhibition hall adjacent to the Le Bourget conference centre.

“Danish companies like Ramboll have the climate solutions that the rest of the world is looking for,” he said.

Former Danish Minister for the Environment Ida Auken also endorsed us for our holistic approach to climate masterplanning in urban areas.

More liveable cities with less CO2Ramboll was an event partner at the Danish pavilion, hosted by State of Green and the Confederation of Danish Industry, with six of Denmark’s other top companies. From 4 to 8 December Ramboll hosted three events on urban climate solutions, green growth, holistic energy planning and investments in blue-green solutions.

Our experts also participated in seven other events held at the Danish pavilion and elsewhere in Paris. Group CEO Jens-Peter Saul encouraged other business leaders,

LOCAL NEWS WITH A GLOBAL REACH

CONTRIBUTORS:Michael RothenborgJesper Toft MadsenMartin ZoffmannJesper FabriciusMartin ChristiansenKarina SmedemarkKrista NymanNicki MarshJeanne BezerraLisa-Lynne Christowitz

PEOPLE

PROJECT

ONE COMPANY

INNOVATION

PROCESSES

BUSINESS

COP21 A STRONG PRESENCE AND AN AMBITIOUS AGREEMENT THAT ALSO BENEFITS RAMBOLL

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heads of state and mayors to act with resolve as they convened to share climate solutions at the World Climate Summit (WCS), the original business, finance and government forum, held on 6 December.

“People drive a Tesla because it is at once a sports car and a sustainable solution. We can do the same with cities, transforming them into better places to live

while also reducing emissions,” he said. During the exhibition, State of Green commended Ramboll for its dedicated engagement at the Danish pavilion, both in terms of representation at events and via extensive media coverage. Ramboll was mentioned either alone or alongside companies like Grundfos, Danfoss and Vestas in several news features, and we had more than 600,000 views on LinkedIn and Twitter in just five days.

COP21 ended in a landmark accord that will for the first time commit nearly every nation to lowering greenhouse gas emissions.

A PERMANENT BLOG ON THE HUFFINGTON POST

COP21 also led to another very important media event: Ahead of the COP, Ramboll co-hosted a Danish press tour for eight international journalists. After the visit, Jens-Peter Saul was invited to contribute to the HuffPost blog with a piece on Nordic solutions for combating climate change. The Huffington Post is an American online news aggregator and blog with worldwide appeal. Jens-Peter Saul has now been accepted as a permanent blogger on the site, which reaches a global audience of 214 million unique visitors each month. His second blog entry, posted the following week in December, was an editorial, written jointly with the Lord Mayor of Copenhagen, Frank Jensen, on how to turn the climate crisis into a liveable city opportunity. You can find the blog here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jenspeter-saul/

See more photos and watch video highlights from our activities in Paris on Ramboll’s Twitter and LinkedIn accounts.

Contact:Kasper Westphal Pedersen, Head of Department, Corporate Communications


JOINT PARTICIPATION HIGHLIGHTS SYNERGIES

ONE COMPANY

District heating and cooling are on the verge of becoming truly international. Experts like Professor Sven Werner from Halmstad University, Sweden, say the potential is huge, and Ramboll has won several projects in the Middle East in 2015, including one of the biggest in the world – a 500-MW project in Makkah, Saudi Arabia.

The Makkah assignment was offered “by invitation only”, and with an excellent reputation in the industry and solid support from Ramboll Middle East, Ramboll Energy secured an opportunity to tender for the assignment. “We’ve evolved from engaging in small 15-MW cooling projects in Northern Europe to a 100-MW project in Qatar, and now to a 500-MW project in Saudi Arabia. This project gives us validation and a portfolio that will make it easier for Ramboll to secure similar mega-projects in future,” says Peter Heymann Andersen, Executive Director of Ramboll Energy.Ramboll has also won some promising contracts in the USA.

When Ramboll Oil & Gas attended this year’s “Offshore Europe” exhibition in Aberdeen, Scotland, they teamed up with Environment at a joint Ramboll stand.

In the UK, Tim Martin, Managing Director of Ramboll Oil & Gas, suggested to Matt Davies at Environment that the two business units join forces at the conference. Ramboll’s broad spectrum of capabilities is what differentiates it from its competitors in the market, so Tim Martin was eager to showcase Ramboll’s environmental services, which are also highly relevant to the oil and gas industry. To support the initiative, the Group Market Committee (GMC) additionally covered one-third of the conference costs.

The days spent at the conference together proved fruitful in more ways than one. Apart from introducing Ramboll’s joint capabilities to clients, both Tim Martin and Matt Davies learned much about each other’s business units. They realised that many synergies could be harvested, and saw great potential in collaborating on projects in decommissioning, a gradually emerging field in the British oil industry as installations age and reservoirs are depleted. The rendezvous at the conference produced a tangible result – a proposal submitted jointly by Oil & Gas and Environment to a British client, currently awaiting the outcome.

RAMBOLL ENTERS THE MAJOR LEAGUE OF DISTRICT COOLING

PROJECT

Contact: Tim Martin, Managing Director,Ramboll Oil & Gas, UK

Contact:Peter Heymann Andersen, Executive Director,Ramboll Energy

35INSIGHT #06

Several thousand bricks of LEGO can actually drive a conversation about how to realise a liveable city. An amazing LEGO construction, replete with green parks, high-rises, pedestrian streets and public transport systems, set the scene for the Ramboll stand at the Eurocities Annual Conference. Various politicians and city executives gave their input regarding ways to create the most attractive city possible – in LEGO.

How can cities create sustainable solutions that ensure good living conditions for their citizens? Over 300 politicians from 90 of Europe’s major cities discussed that question with experts and NGOs at the Eurocities Annual Conference in Copenhagen and Malmö in November 2015. Ramboll Denmark initiated the Eurocities 2015 partnership together with Planning & Urban Design, Water and Environment & Health. Four concurrent roundtable

debates addressed air quality, employment, urban mobility, and strategies for attracting investment in local economic development. Ralph E. Morris, Managing Principal at Environment & Health in the USA, shared his insights on air quality alongside leading politicians and other international experts. During the conference, the city representatives also found inspiration in learning about each other's challenges and experience. Hanne Christensen, Managing Director of the Water division, joined forces with the City of Copenhagen to present Copenhagen's Climate Adaptation Plan – which Ramboll has helped to give concrete shape – and discussed how climate initiatives can improve liveability in urban areas.

MAIN PARTNER ON SUMMIT BETWEEN EUROPE’S BIG CITIES

In relation to size, geographical diversity and global ambitions, Ramboll has been ranked eighth among the world’s environmental consultancies in a report published by Environment Analyst (EA), a leading international journal for the environmental services sector.

Based upon the combined revenues of the Ramboll Environment and Health, Water and Energy businesses, the ranking reflects well on the December 2014 acquisition of ENVIRON by Ramboll. The #8 rank is a 10-position jump from ENVIRON’s ranking last year.

The report also reveals that Ramboll has a 1.7% share of the worldwide environmental services market. Earlier this year, Engineering News Record (ENR) reaffirmed this position, by ranking Ramboll as the tenth largest firm by revenue in the Engineering/Design category of its “Top 200 Environmental Firms” report.

Tom Vetrano, Managing Director of Ramboll Environment & Health, says: “The Environment Analyst and ENR rankings are highly regarded and widely read across the world. This independent recognition demonstrates how the complementary services and geographical footprints of Ramboll and ENVIRON have resulted in an organisation that is greater than the sum of its parts with the ability to create additional value for our clients.”

RAMBOLL EIGHTH IN GLOBAL RANKINGS

BUSINESS

Contact:Jesper Fabricius, Head of Communications, Ramboll Denmark

Contact: Tom Vetrano, Managing Director,Ramboll Environment & Health

ONE COMPANY


To better use its natural resources, the Finnish city of Mikkeli will now investigate whether its wastewater can be treated efficiently enough to make it potable. Ramboll is conducting the study, and Water has set up a project team made up

of experts from both Ramboll and legacy ENVIRON. The project will thus help us to realise the synergies arising from the merger between the two companies.

“This project offers a great opportunity for the city of Mikkeli

to make some valuable innovation and potentially reverse costs into possible revenues by looking at wastewater as a resource rather than waste. It also gives us a great possibility to work close together across borders,” says Janet Egli, Global Service Line Leader for Water and Wastewater Treatment at Water.

Ramboll Water in Finland has recently won a range of “synergy projects” in Finland, including a wastewater treatment project for Nokia.

Urbanisation, digitalisation, rising numbers of people and the ever-increasing volume of goods they require are generating demand for large infrastructure projects with innovative solutions that meet the needs of city dwellers. To find these solutions, we must look beyond current practices and ensure that we tap the combined knowledge of all our experts. This is exactly what Planning and Urban Design (P&UD) is doing.

"We see regional and urban planning as a multifaceted activity where the best solutions can only be achieved when people across different functions collaborate. The objective is to maximise the

benefits of the Liveable Cities concept through the entire life cycle," explains Jukka-Pekka Pitkänen, Director of the Urban Sector in Finland.

The division has held various workshops in which experts throughout the organisation have developed ideas for new customer-centric services. These self-named “P&UDketeers”, armed with knowledge and curious minds, have boldly set their sights on the future and the vast opportunities inherent in urbanisation.

“Ramboll has such an enormous amount of knowledge, we simply must be sure to use it unhindered by organisational or

national borders,” Jukka-Pekka says. In Ramboll, Planning and Urban Design (P&UD) services combine liveability, sustainability and smart technologies. This holistic city planning combines a number of services, including visions, strategies and policies, urban planning, sustainable buildings, mobility, energy, water management, blue-green infrastructure, pollution control, adaptation and climate adaptation and mitigation and waste and resource management.

JOIN THE P&UDKETEERS! PEOPLE

NEED A DRINK? HAVE SOME WASTEWATER

PROJECT

Contact:Janet Egli, Service Line Leader,Ramboll Water

Contact:Jukka-Pekka Pitkänen,Director, Urban Sector, Ramboll Finland

37INSIGHT #06

Did you know that the two towers at the Bella Sky Hotel in Copenhagen stretch 76.5 metres up at a 15-degree incline in opposite directions, virtually defying the laws of nature? Or that the fixed tunnel link between Denmark and Sweden is the world’s longest immersed tunnel for trains and cars? A new exhibition brings into focus the past decades’ greatest achievements by visionary and innovative engineers and architects in Denmark and, indeed, the world. Ramboll employees have played a crucial role in the solutions found for more than 20 of the 100 Danish and international projects honoured.

Ramboll is also the main partner in the exhibition, being held at the Danish Architecture Centre in Copenhagen from 9 October, 2015, to 3 January, 2016. Paying homage to 100 remarkable projects, the exhibition demonstrates the pivotal cooperation existing between owners, engineers, architects and entrepreneurs. As visitors view the exhibition, they can learn the stories behind some of the most fascinating achievements engineers and architects have made within transport, buildings and other sectors in the last several decades.

Contact:Jesper Fabricius, Head of Communications, Ramboll Denmark

GROUNDBREAKING CONSTRUCTIONS – 100 DANISH BREAKTHROUGHS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD

INNOVATION

170 employees from across the UK attended the 8th Technical Excellence Forum. Presentations were on topics ranging from innovative solutions for bridge

strengthening, to new concepts for integrating renewable energy into our transport infrastructure and approaches for pushing the boundaries of science facility design.

GOOD RESULTS ON UK TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE FORUM

INNOVATION

Contact:Nicki Marsh, Head of Communications,Ramboll UK

Ramboll has been awarded two high-stakes projects to help German authorities deal with the rising influx of asylum seekers.

The bigger of the two is for the Central Immigration Authority in Saxony, Germany. Its main reception centre handles the initial reception and housing of refugees, clarifies their status and redirects them to additional facilities. To manage the escalating workload, the centre has brought in 200 extra staff. But how to set up smart work routines and integrate arriving colleagues in a way that treats asylum seekers respectfully and provides them with humane conditions? This is where Ramboll steps in.

“We can draw both on our vast experience in the field of migration at the German and EU levels and on our change management expertise,” says Senior Consultant Christiane von Bernstorff.

In the other project, in Hamburg, RMC is also assisting the Senate of Work, integrating refugees swiftly and sustainably in the labour market.


NEW REFUGEE ASSESSMENT

PROJECT

Just before Christmas, Ramboll in Romania celebrated its 10th anniversary. The company was established in 2005 as a full subsidiary of Ramboll Danmark A/S. In 2013 it acquired Blom Romania and grew from around

20 employees to about 90, making Ramboll Romania the third largest engineering consultancy within water and environment in the country. Today, Ramboll Romania is a fully integrated part of Ramboll Water.

Ramboll’s new, interactive 3D computer game helps construction workers anticipate and avoid accidents onsite. This was clearly the case during the first phase of construction of the “super hospital” in Gødstrup, Denmark.

It is the first time that virtual reality has been used this way in Denmark. Employees have to perform a range of safety tasks and procedures in a 3D version before gaining access to the site. The first 1,000 employees have already passed the safety introduction, and the method works:

“We have less than half of the industry’s average accident rate," says Michael Hyllegaard, Project Manager, DNV Gødstrup.

"Employees acquire action competence through the 3D game and can therefore take responsibility for seeing accidents before they happen. The method is also more efficient, because you traditionally hold public meetings with 20-50 people at a time – here only a small group goes through the safety introduction," he explains.

3D GAME PREVENTS OCCUPATIONAL INJURIES

INNOVATION

10 YEARS AND STILL DEVELOPING IN ROMANIA PROJECT

Contact:Åge Staghøj,Consultant,Ramboll Transport

Contact:Christiane von Bernstorff,Senior Consultant,Ramboll Management Consulting

Contact:Silviu Stoica,General Manager, Ramboll Romania

39INSIGHT #06

In early October this intrepid foursome suited up in steel-toed shoes and safety gear while on-site at the Port of Long Beach and at the last operating steel mill in southern California, client sites where legacy ENVIRON has been providing environmental compliance and sustainability services for years – including air quality compliance and permitting, health risk assessment, and stormwater and wastewater consulting.

Lars Wass (corporate communications), Jeanne Bezerra (E&H communications), Joe Hower (E&H Principal, Los Angeles) and Brian Canavan (ProMedias, US) teamed up for an adventurous video shoot to update Ramboll’s Sustainable Society Consultant

corporate video. Lars served as the project producer; Jeanne served as the editorial director, stringer and driver; Joe secured the southern California client locations; and Brian served as first camera.

They braved extreme heat (140 degrees Celsius inside the steel mill), noise, grit and heights in the pursuit of fabulous footage. Yes, all you health and safety directors, they were prepped and accompanied by health and safety personnel on location. The updated corporate video will be released in early 2016, and some of the footage will likely appear in other Ramboll communications. Contact: Jeanne Bezerra,Global Communications Director,Ramboll Environment & Health

WATER MAKES A SPLASH IN THE USA

BUSINESS

To boost awareness of Ramboll’s water and climate adaptation competencies in the North American market, our US water experts have made their mark on several important conferences over the last few months.

In September, a group of water experts participated in the WEFTEC conference, which is the largest conference of its kind in North America. Among other things, they hosted a workshop, accepted a StormTV Award for a video on the Bishan Park project in Singapore, sponsored an industrial networking reception, and attended a Denmark-USA water trade dinner, hosted by the Danish ambassador.

In November, Ramboll Water in the USA participated in two other major conferences: the American Water Resources Association (AWRA) annual conference in Denver, Colorado, and the International Water Conference in Orlando, Florida.

In December, we had two events in California. First, we had a solid presence at the Association of California Water Agencies Fall Meeting in Indian Wells, California with a presentation on water resource mapping and data collection targeted at Californian decision makers. Second, we were a sponsor for the International Water & Climate Forum, in San Diego, California, meeting with utility leaders from US , Europe, and Australia, sharing our experience on how water utilities and communities are adapting to climate change and becoming more resilient.

ALL DRESSED UP FOR THE NEW CORPORATE VIDEO

ONE COMPANY

The Association for Consultancy & Engineering (ACE) has partnered with Ramboll Middle East (RME) to launch the ACE Progress Network for engineers under 35. Supported by Ramboll, the Progress Network is chaired by RME’s Associate Director of Transport Planning, Mehdi Langroudi, and gives its young members access to the leading industry experts driving

the conversation on innovative methods and technologies. The network will hold events, share their expertise with the broader engineering consulting community, and serve as a pool of key knowledge on the industry.

RME SPONSORS LAUNCH OF NETWORK PROCESSES

Contact:Patrick J. Campbell,Director, Water Americas

Contact:Lisa-Lynne Christowitz,Head of Communications,Ramboll New Markets

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insight #6 collaboration

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