ARCADIS appoints Carolien Gehrels to lead Big Urban Clients program in Continental Europe

April 4, 2014 - ARCADIS (EURONEXT: ARCAD), the leading global natural and built asset design and consultancy firm, announced today that it has appointed Ms. Carolien Gehrels, the current Deputy Mayor of Amsterdam to lead its Big Urban Client (BUC) program in Continental Europe.  Ms. Gehrels will work closely with John Batten, Global Leader for BUC and the European team on strengthening ARCADIS' position in selected cities around Continental Europe and to help ARCADIS' local urban teams generate integrated and sustainable urban solutions that span across all of its business lines.

The BUC program is ARCADIS' answer to the rapid global pace of urbanization. It seeks to help large urban clients in becoming more competitive when attracting investors and developers, when attracting people or when adding cultural attractions such as high end museums or theaters. The program is also directed at making cities more livable by providing sustainable urban solutions for challenges in transportation, environment, water supply, urban planning and building design. ARCADIS has selected 12 cities as Big Urban Clients to start this strategic initiative, which among others include Sao Paulo - Brazil, New York City - US, London - UK, Doha - Qatar, Shanghai in China, and the urban area Amsterdam/Rotterdam in the Netherlands. In each of these cities ARCADIS already has a strong presence.

Ms. Carolien Gehrels has a degree in the Dutch language from Groningen University with a specialization in organizational communications. After fulfilling a number of communications roles, she joined management consultancy company Berenschot as a consultant for federal government entities and municipalities in 1997. In the year 2000 she was appointed Director of Berenschot Communications at the age of 33. In that position she led the international city marketing programs for Amsterdam and Maastricht. As managing director she also coined and pushed the "I Amsterdam" strategy which the city successfully uses to date. She became an alderwoman in the City of Amsterdam in 2006. In her last role as Deputy Mayer she was among other things responsible for Economic affairs, the Arts, Water Management, Monuments, and local Media.

"I am proud that we are able to attract such a seasoned urban professional to help us push this important strategic initiative. Ms. Gehrels has built a reputation for relentlessly marketing the strengths of the city of Amsterdam around the world, while at the same time building and improving its urban fabric. Her international experience and in depth knowledge of city government make her extremely suitable for this position and I look forward to working with her," said Neil McArthur, CEO of ARCADIS.

For more information please contact Joost Slooten at +31 (0) 20 2011083, or outside office hours at +31 (0) 6 27061880 or joost.slooten@arcadis.com

About ARCADIS: ARCADIS is the leading global natural and built asset design and consultancyfirm 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