Uniting 30+ Stakeholders to Solve Energy Transition Bottlenecks.

Housing development and grid management are separate worlds. And with both under strain, opportunity arises for the bold.

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With energy demands rising, Alliander is at the forefront of addressing one of the Netherlands' biggest challenges: building a future-ready, congestion-free electrical network. Among the various initiatives is the moonshot effort where housing development is used as key to addressing both these challenges. With a broad network of partners, we're realizing an integral neighbourhood concept together where with balance in energy and balance in other interests: De BalansWijk.

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Key Challenge

To successfully lead this initiative, Alliander needed to go beyond technical solutions. The true challenge was bringing together a wide network of stakeholders to align on a shared vision and an actionable roadmap. In such a complex landscape, it's hard to get first results and stay moving at startup speed. With diverse teams and partners involved, establishing clarity around roles, priorities, and expectations was critical to driving forward this high-stakes, high-impact initiative.

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Approach

To bring the De BalansWijk vision to life, we used the Execute Framework and co-creation sessions to anchor the project. The team kicked-off with a strategic design phase, where they mapped the project’s guiding pillars. The shared roadmap then not only clarified roles and responsibilities of all involved, but made sure all interests were addressed. The phased approach in the roadmap allowed for small steps in complex environments, building momentum step by step.

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Continuing the engagement in the implementation phase, teams meet biweekly to align on objectives, address emerging issues, and ensure consistent progress. Community Days were introduced as a critical touchpoint, bringing together stakeholders to share insights and advance collaborative research on emerging grid technologies and housing concepts.

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Outcomes

The project has resulted in a clear, actionable roadmap and a robust structure for sustained collaboration. Biweekly sprints maintain project velocity, while Community Days build valuable partnerships and stimulate continuous learning.

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The BalansWijk initiative has been covered in several media such as Dutch news-outlet nu.nl.

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We can't wait to see the big idea of the Balanswijk come to Life in small steps.

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