A new strategy should make the entire construction process highly sustainable, further increase efficiency and safety, and make projects even more qualitative
Democo Group – one of our country’s largest construction and development companies – is shifting up a gear. We are proud to announce the appointment of Thibaud Demot (33) as CEO and Raf Houben (39) as COO of Democo Group, immediately bringing the third generation to the helm. This duo, together with the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors, drew up an ambitious plan to make the entire construction process even more sustainable, increase efficiency and safety, and make projects even more qualitative. One of the ways we do this is by focusing on numerous innovations, both in-house and with partners.
Democo Group now has a new CEO and COO: Thibaud Demot (33) and Raf Houben (39). In recent years, commercial engineer Demot earned his spurs at accountancy specialist BDO and Ciril, the property development subsidiary of Democo Group. Industrial engineer Houben has been working on numerous major construction projects for contractor Democo for the past 14 years. Both are taking over the torch from their fathers, Philip Demot (64) and Rudy Houben (67), who led the family business operationally for the past 30 years and grew it into one of Belgium’s largest construction and development companies.
“New members of the third generation of the Demot and Houben families have been moving strongly within Democo Group in recent years. This ensures a good mix of continuity and innovation at all levels. The appointment of Thibaud and Raf to the highest level of the organisation shows how we continue to grow while respecting family values and corporate culture. The new CEO and COO can draw on the experience and expertise of their predecessors, who remain on the Board of Directors.” - Hans Wilmots, Chairman of Democo Group’s Board of Directors
Ambitious plan
With new operational leadership comes a new future for Democo Group as well. Thibaud Demot and Raf Houben, together with the executive committee and the Board of Directors, developed an ambitious plan to create added value for everyone – from clients to employees to the planet – and make the company ‘future-proof’.
“The industry, and we too, have had some challenging years. The Covid, energy, and Ukraine crises, among others, left their mark, and on top of that we also see numerous evolutions coming our way, such as the rapid rise of artificial intelligence and climate change. Our mission is to make Democo Group not only even more efficient, but also future-proof. We want to create even more value for our clients, our employees, our partners – and for society. One of the keys to this is innovation. This is possible by attracting new talent, on the one hand, and establishing strong collaborations within the group and with our partners on the other. For example, we are already concretely developing a circular hub at the Port of Brussels. In collaboration with BC materials, we are bringing together various partners working on circularity there. By doing this in one location, we create a unique cross-pollination. Together, we want to create a leverage effect that could eventually make the entire construction process even more sustainable.” — Thibaud Demot, CEO of Democo Group
That ‘hub’ is only a fraction of what Democo Group wants to achieve in terms of sustainability and circularity. For example, Thibaud Demot and Raf Houben want to fully commit to accelerating the energy transition in companies and governments in the coming years.
“That is why our engineering companies AEW, Demtec Services, and Vandenbriele have just merged to form the new sustainability company, The Energy Circle. With our bundled expertise and new services, we now offer comprehensive solutions to make large, energy-consuming buildings in Flanders robustly sustainable. We tackle everything from energy production and consumption to water management and the deployment of smart technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and real-time energy monitoring.” — Thibaud Demot, CEO of Democo Group
Optimisation
In addition, Democo Group will henceforth be even more involved from the concept and design phase. By putting its knowledge at the service of clients earlier on in the process, projects will not only become more sustainable and climate-friendly, but also more qualitative, cheaper, and faster.
“Those who want to produce quality must also be able to deliver it at all levels. Therefore, we also want to put even more effort into training employees to increase their knowledge and commitment. We are also working on monitoring our work even more closely. Not to control employees, but rather to see how we can refine, optimise, and possibly speed up certain parts of the construction process while also making them safer. We are looking at whether artificial intelligence can also play a role in this. The long-term aim is to deliver all our projects without any points for attention. We also plan to continue to lead the way with new initiatives in the field of workplace safety and welfare. Safety remains our absolute priority. We are also stepping up our efforts to prevent social fraud in the sector. Earlier this year, for example, we were the first in Belgium to introduce face scanners for workers on sites, and we’ve been limiting the cascading of subcontractors to a maximum of four levels deep for some time now, including for private projects.” — Raf Houben, COO of Democo Group
Active in more than 100 locations
Democo Group – with contractor Democo, property developer Ciril, finishing company Deholi, security company AEW Security, and tech company The Energy Circle – operates daily at more than 100 sites in Belgium. The construction company has also been active in Poland for over thirty years and its development arm has also been operating here for two years. The family-owned company earns a consolidated group turnover of €400 million.
