ARCADIS (EURONEXT: ARCAD), the world's leading natural and built asset design and consultancy firm, and UN-Habitat, the United Nations Agency for Human Settlements, announce today to extend their collaboration for another two years until the end of 2015. The initial partnership agreement was signed in March 2010 and is aimed at a common goal: to improve the quality of life in rapidly growing cities around the world. The partnership is named Shelter and provides pro bono expertise for UN-Habitat projects and financial sponsorship for the World Urban Campaign (www.worldurbancampaign.org).
During the last three years, 50 missions, trainings and other Shelter activities have been organized in Asia, Africa and Middle America, in which over 120 ARCADIS experts have shared their expertise and skills to help bring the UN-Habitat mission forward. At the moment ARCADIS is working closely together with UN-Habitat to assess damage and prioritize reconstruction efforts in the Philippines, which was recently affected by the typhoon Haiyan. The Shelter program has already contributed before to a more resilient urban planning and the improvement of water supply systems for local communities in that region.
ARCADIS is also a main sponsor of the World Urban Campaign, an initiative of UN-Habitat acknowledged by the United Nations as a lead advocacy platform on urban issues to increase awareness and knowledge for better cities, better life through successful urban solutions.
There is a close fit between UN-Habitat and ARCADIS as both organizations focus on the improvement of the urban environment. Neil McArthur, CEO of ARCADIS says: "I am very happy that we have extended our partnership. Shelter shows our commitment to improve the human habitat and the quality of life with our skills and expertise."
Dr. Joan Clos, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN-Habitat states: "The long-term commitment of ARCADIS with sustainable urban development, and specifically with UN-Habitat, has been and will be crucial for our humanitarian projects. We consider the ARCADIS Shelter program as a role model for pro-bono partnerships."
For more information please contact:
ARCADIS NV: Joost Slooten, +3120 2011083; e-mail: joost.slooten@arcadis.com
UN-Habitat: Ana Moreno, +254 702 116 120;
e-mail: Ana.moreno@unhabitat.org
About ARCADIS: ARCADIS is the leading global natural and built asset design and consultancy firm working in partnership with our clients to deliver exceptional and sustainable outcomes through the application of design, consultancy, engineering, project and management services. ARCADIS differentiates through its talented and passionate people and its unique combination of capabilities covering the whole asset life cycle, its deep market sector insights and its ability to integrate health & safety and sustainability into the design and delivery of solutions across the globe. We are 22,000 people that generate €2.5 billion in revenues. We support UN-Habitat with knowledge and expertise to improve the quality of life in rapidly growing cities around the world. Please visit: www.arcadis.com
About UN-Habitat:
UN-Habitat is the lead United Nations agency for housing and urban development. Its mandate is to promote public policy and public and private investment to make our cities and towns socially more inclusive, economically dynamic and environmentally sound. It is headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, and has 400 core staff and up to 2,000 project staff at any given time. Please visit: www.unhabitat.org
