Our history
It all began with the founding of Raadgevend Bureau Ir. B.W. Berenschot (Berenschot Consulting Engineers) in 1938.
Over the last 80 years we have evolved into a company with unequalled sector knowledge and professional expertise. Our founder B.W. Berenschot strongly believed in the principles of scientific management. ‘Knowledge is power’ is how we would term it today. At the same time he was a man with a keen eye for the practical side of things. This combination of theory and practice laid the foundations for the type of consultancy that Berenschot was to become and still is today.
The history of the firm since the Second World War until the present has largely reflected the development of the Netherlands’ economy. The war years, the period of reconstruction, the creation of the welfare state, the revitalised market mechanism and globalisation: trends which have all been clear and tangible. Times have changed. Berenschot has moved with the times and indeed contributed to shaping those changes. Still today, each of us is always focused on progress.
It was at the suggestion of former Berenschot colleague, Diederick van den Wall Bake that Footprint Foundation (Stichting Voetsporen) was set up on 29 December 2009. This organisation keeps our history alive and curates the cultural heritage of our firm. “New staff are often interested in the origins and development of our business. There are differences between the type of work we did then and now, but surprisingly many similarities too,” says Diederick van den Wall Bake.
Berenschot is a member of the Business & History Association. The aim of this association is to bring together companies that own a company-historical collection and thus preserve their collections for the next generations.