History

The Andus Group's foundations were laid in 1997. After Tom van Rijn had built up a business that provided technical installations for clients such as Shell, he returned to the Netherlands to assume control of BNG Steel Construction from parent company B&G Group. The investment company RijnDijk was created.

The creation of a group

The RijnDijk Staalgroep (Steel Group) developed very quickly. The engineering practice RijnDijk Engineering was established and the RijnDijk Staalgroep was disconnected from the factory in Budel and then split up into the business units BNG Steel Construction, Mebra Metalworking, and Bustaco Steel Preservation. The head office of the RijnDijk Staalgroep was set up in Eindhoven. In 2000, the RijnDijk Staalgroep assumed control of the former Netherlands Railways (NS) division P&K Utrecht, taking it over from Volker Stevin. That was followed by several other takeovers, such as the Rotterdam-based Lengkeek Steel Construction, Van der Cammen Steel Construction, and Hoogerwaard Cable Construction. The Schagen-based Wijnker Van Lint Steel Builders was also added to the group. That gave the RijnDijk Staalgroep its first foreign branch: a production location in Slovakia.

A complete range of specialisations

RijnDijk Steel Contracting was set up to separate the project organisation from the production companies. And to expand the services offered by the RijnDijk Staalgroep even further, Escher Process Equipment (Heijningen) and BAM Steel Structures (Schiedam) was also taken over. The name BAM Steel Structures was changed into its original name, HSM. The RijnDijk Staalgroep also underwent a name change, with the word ‘Staal' disappearing from the name. The ‘RijnDijk Groep' more accurately reflected the fact that the group increasingly acted as main contractor and assumed full responsibility for projects. The group eventually developed to become one of the most broadly oriented companies in steel construction in the Netherlands, with the various business units in each segment operating at the top of their markets.