When Johan Bosch gets into his car at 05:30, he never knows what to expect between then and 16:00. As assistant executive for the Lounge 1 redevelopment project, he moves from building site to building site in this area. That's a lot of mileage and a lot of business to attend to. From checking the planning to construction quality – steel, floors and walls… you name it! How does he personally sum up the challenges in his job?
Johan, I understand that you’ve got a huge job on your hands with Lounge 1.
‘A huge job, a huge job… well yes, actually. You’re right in the middle of the hustle and bustle of Schiphol, aren’t you? While the passengers are walking above, below and next to us, we’re demolishing shops, shoring up walls. Or, like with the Foodcourt, we’re ‘just’ adding a floor. It’s a blessing and a curse, I can tell you.’
Please, do tell us more about that blessing.
‘It’s a real blessing when I’m on location and see the results. Sometimes you see it as a concept. You make a picture in your head. But then you are there and think: wow, this was still a construction site a month ago. You don't always have that realisation. The passengers certainly don't. At the moment, they’re walking a different route almost every week. That’s because a floor was laid here, a wall taken down there, or because an area is now strong enough due to the steel construction.'
And the curse?
Having to keep pointing out safety and possible inconveniences to people. For example, people who work at heights have to keep putting their equipment away. You don’t want to have a hammer or something landing on someone’s head. For safety reasons and to limit dust and noise nuisance, we work mostly at night. As a passenger, you wouldn’t feel comfortable either when we’re chipping away at a concrete floor right next to your seat, would you?’
Despite that diligence, are there ever incidents?
‘Of course. No matter how many risk analyses you do, you will always make mistakes. The good thing here is that you have so many people with knowledge who can solve it. Recently we were busy spraying the ceiling of the new crew centre with fire-resistant mortar. In terms of surface area, imagine two football fields in a row. That takes three months. Someone hit a sprinkler system that wasn't closed. Water, water, water everywhere. You can definitely call that an incident.’
And how did you create order in the chaos?
‘In this case? First, literally and figuratively, by taking the pressure off. Perhaps the biggest challenge here was to find the right person who had the authority to take the water pressure off. Then you start controlling the situation. So, using water vacuum cleaners and sweepers to get everything dry again. The new KLM Crew Center now looks spick and span again.’
What do you see as your biggest personal challenge? ‘Maintaining an overview. I am used to working with deadlines, and I like that dynamic. You have to make sure that you are not just putting out fires. You can imagine if you go from construction site to construction site like I do, all sorts of things happen. Someone has decided to deviate from the planning for a while, a bag of sand has been left at customs for extra checks. Before you know it, you are solving problems for the eighty people who work here every day. I have to protect myself from that. An overview is necessary to monitor the budget, the planning and safety. That remains a balancing act. But that’s not bad, it makes you flexible. And with a project where you go from 100 percent construction site to 100 percent passenger area, you can expect that there will be a lot involved, right?’