At the presentation of the annual vision report and in keeping with tradition, Embuild Flanders introduced its young contractors from the construction industry and five of them, one from each province, were duly honoured with the title of Young Flemish Contractor of the Year. On the recommendation of Embuild Limburg, the honour for our province went to Sofie Janssen, who co-manages the Bilzen-based construction company Bouwbedrijf Janssen NV. She was put forward as a candidate because of her enthusiastic and enriching way of doing business. In addition, she is also a director of Embuild Jong Limburg.

Sofie Janssen is the fourth generation of her family to work in the business, after her great-grandfather, her grandfather Johnny and her father Luc. An architect by training, she entered the family business two years ago. “Because my father and I are on the shop floor together every day, the lines of communication between us and with our people in the office and the people on our construction sites, are very short,” says Sofie. “That way, it’s easy to discuss day-to-day management and distribute tasks. This provides tremendous flexibility and allows us as a company to respond to changing situations and serve our customers more effectively.”

Janssen – a construction company with approval class 7. Founded in 1963, it has 66 employees and annual sales of some 14 million euros. Its activities range from public works for social housing, to residential property development and the construction of private villas. In addition to the construction company, there is also a sister company that makes precast concrete elements. “Most of all, it is the challenging combination consisting, on the one hand, of managing a construction project and, on the other hand, of producing the building blocks themselves that creates job satisfaction day in, day out,” said the newly honoured Young Flemish Contractor of the Year.